FARM WORK FOR WOMEN
Among those who choose work on the land as a special employment are girls
and women in the country who have the opportunity to give either part of
their time or all of it to farm work, and others from the city who prefer
an outdoor life. The problems of the city girl or woman who wishes to
engage in farm work are how to acquire skill and experience in her
business, capital for land and equipment, labour, transportation and a
market. The girl on the farm can solve these problems with an advantage
of fifty, seventy-five, or one hundred per cent. as compared with the girl
who migrates from town or city to carry on independent productive work in
the country.
Most girls and women in the country are familiar with farm life, and know
beforehand what they require for success in any kind of farm work. Eggs,
poultry, cream, butter, vegetables and fruit are sent to market by women
who are also home makers. There is, also, a growing movement among a few
able country women to make their productive work so extensive as to
constitute one-half or one-third of the whole work of the farm. Thus in
some instances a third of the farm land may be devoted to a poultry farm;
and its management is in reality an extensive business, undertaken with
all the thought, planning and attention which are given to a large farm
project. Productive work of this character is successfully carried on by
a few women.
A restricted number of women who have lived previously on farms and are
thoroughly familiar with farming conditions have undertaken farm management
successfully. Such women are exceptional and there is no present indication
that this employment will be taken up to any large extent by women. The
farm manager must be strong enough to do her own work when she is unable
to procure assistance, and she may at times have to live alone.
The girl who lives on a farm and who has the endowment needed has an
exceptional opportunity to engage in productive work on her own initiative.
She should secure a plot of land on the farm for her own use. When the
other labour on the farm is being done, it takes little extra time and
exertion to do what cultivating is necessary on the girl's plot of land.
In this way she can arrange with little trouble and at little expense for
any manual labour which is beyond her own strength. A girl or a woman who
goes into the country from the city to engage in independent productive
work finds the problem of labour one of her greatest difficulties. In this
as in other respects the girl whose father or brother is a farmer is at an
advantage.
A young woman thus situated has her land secured as her share of family
good will, or at a small rental after her business has begun to pay. An
arrangement, as has been pointed out, can easily be made for the manual
labour required. She has an opportunity to learn her work thoroughly, and
to experiment, before she actually goes into business. She can arrange for
necessary fertilizers at an advantageous rate. Finally, the means of
transportation to market, and the market itself which has been found for
the products of her father's farm, often can be used for the products which
the girl has chosen to raise on her plot.
If she is particularly attracted to flower-growing, the girl on the farm
may devote herself to growing violets for market. She must study violets
carefully. She should be an authority on the subject. She should learn to
understand their appearance, habits and diseases. She should know just what
to do for her plants, how to feed and tend them, how to get the best
results, how to make a violet blossom the best blossom of its kind that can
be offered for sale. Besides this, she must know how to pick violets, how
to grade them, how to pack them, and when and where and how to send them to
market. It would appear practically certain that if the farm produce is
sent to market, the girl may send her violets, properly handled and packed,
at the same time, and she will be likely to find a ready demand for her
flowers, if she offers fine violets for sale.
A woman who is a bee-keeper writes as follows of how a woman may acquire
skill in this country employment. "A good beginning for the woman who is
to keep bees is to read Maeterlinck's 'Life of the Bee.' If after reading
such a book the girl or woman who thinks she would like to be a bee farmer
is still further interested in bees, then she may decide to go into bee
culture.
She should offer herself as apprentice to an up-to-date bee-keeper as soon
as the spring work begins and stay with him to the end of the season.
The following spring, if still inclined for the work, she should buy from
her employer two, four or six prosperous colonies of bees. If she prefers
to do so, she may take a short course in bee-keeping at the Ontario
Agricultural College, Guelph.
Characteristics which the bee-keeper needs are a cool head and steady
nerves. She should also have determination to succeed and some
indifference to pain.
Some difficulties which may be encountered are bad choice of location,
winter losses and poor seasons. There is heavy lifting to be done, but
generally a lad in the neighbourhood can be hired to come for part of
the day to help. By ingenuity a good deal of the lifting can be avoided.
The advantages of bee-keeping are a healthful, outdoor occupation which
takes one's mind off real or imaginary worries, with a certainty of small
profit in spite of set-backs and large profits in favourable seasons.
Bee-keeping is a good occupation for the woman who is suited to it, but
not every woman can be a successful bee-farmer.
When the bee-keeper's work calls for larger space she may rent outyards
from farmers in the locality. Her market is likely to be found near where
she lives. Those who know that she keeps bees will bring her orders.
Bakers use a considerable amount of honey. If the bee-keeper lives near a
good road for motorists, she may put up a sign saying 'Honey for sale,'
and the demand probably will be larger than she can supply."
A woman who moved from the city to the country is now favourably known as
a grower of flowering plants for marketing. She began as a student of wild
flowers and became a wild flower specialist. The first money she made from
flowers was earned as the result of her wish to give to a missionary
society. She bought seeds from a reliable dealer, parcelled them out in
selected varieties, and sold the packages. She also planted the seeds in
her own garden and studied the plants carefully. The occupation grew until
it took up most of her time. A larger garden was obtained and expert
knowledge was acquired gradually in the growing of perennials. The demand
for her plants grew steadily. When she made a change from a city garden to
a country place, greater expenditure was necessary, and the cost of labour
became a serious item. But the beauty of outdoor life and love for her
special work have counter-balanced all difficulties. Her business is now
well-established and successful.
The principal difficulty, according to one authority, for girls and women
in the business of farm production, is that they have to find out that
they must learn to understand facts with which they think they are already
familiar. A girl on a farm, for instance, makes up her mind to undertake
poultry farming as a business. She may be of the opinion that she knows
all about poultry, from the kind of buildings which ought to be used to
the nature of any disease likely to attack poultry. This believing that
she knows all about poultry, or vegetables, or fruit, when in reality a
good part of the knowledge she has is imperfect, will be a great obstacle
to the girl in such work. The girl of good judgment will set to work to
study her subject with enthusiasm and perseverance. As a rule people who
understand a subject best are slow to believe that they know all there is
to know on that subject.
The girl or woman who hopes to leave town or city life to engage in work
in the country should have a certain amount of capital, not less, it has
been said, than five thousand dollars; but the amount of capital required
depends on the locality. A greater amount than five thousand dollars may
easily be necessary. She will also need a small income, since she may not
be able to support herself wholly by this work for a number of years, if
indeed she does so ultimately. She should be strong physically and should
enjoy manual labour. She should be fond of an outdoor life and of whatever
kind of work is involved in her enterprise. She should like animals and
growing things, and be able to live without constant social stimulus.
The Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph has trained a number of young
women in different branches of agricultural production. Short courses may
be taken during the year, and the special classes during the summer months
are most useful and popular.
The special need for production which developed during the War induced
many girls and young women, including a number of women students from
universities, to volunteer for farm work. During the summer months some
hundreds of young women engaged in fruit picking and worked in canning
factories under government supervision, and were lodged in club houses
managed by the Young Women's Christian Association. Others undertook
various forms of work connected with agriculture, meeting with success in
their employment and with public approval. In the summer of 1918 a special
course of instruction for young women in farm work was arranged at the
Ontario Agricultural College, and later regular courses were established
throughout the year. Women now may qualify for the degree of Bachelor of
Science in Agriculture at the Ontario Agricultural College and at Macdonald
College, Quebec. Wider opportunities for women in agricultural employment
are thus being recognized.