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Show ::: FARMERETTES SENT ; TO AID RANCHERS I j . LOS ANGELES, Cal.. Aug. 2 Four i hundred and sixty-five "farmerettes" were sent out from the southern California Cali-fornia branch of the Women's Land Service here from May 1, to July 17 last, to aid California ranchers in their efforts to increase tthe country's food supply. Nearly all of these have 1 remained in thc service, and as proof 1 that these young women are capably filling the places of men called into ' the army or other activities connected i ) -with the war, it was pointed out at ; ;' the headquarters of the service that many of their requests for help came from ranches near those to which units had previously been sent Volunteers in the women's land ar- my sent out from Los Angeles include teachers, stenographers, saleswomen, waitresses and school girls. Most of them have been employed in gathering and preparing for market deciduous , 1 fruits. Activities of others have included in-cluded driving tractors, dairying, planting tomatoes, harvesting various crops and making hay. In one of the , first units formed was a young woman who previously had in her employ a French maid. The latest word receiv- at service headquarters from her ) t was that she had just completed a ; thirteen hour day picking up and sack-j sack-j ;' ing potatoes. ? The dairy industry has taken a large j number of women. Near Los Angeles I j women have largely replaced men as I r milkers. Of thc first units sent to I L thc dairies only a few of the young women had milked before and most of them were unaware that thero is a "wrong" as well as a "right" side to a cow until they had been kicked over by outraged animals. Two young women after picking themselves from the side oT thc stable opposite to that where they had begun operations promptly resigned. Some of the others oth-ers at latest reports were milking as many as twenty -six cows twice daily. One recruit surprised her employer by milking twenty cows the first night. She had been employed in a cafeteria up to the time of joining the service. Thc standard wage for dairy workers work-ers is ?-15 a month with board and lodging; that for general agricultural workers is ?60 a month without board or lodging. Those engaged in picking and preparing fruit for market are paid on a piece work basis. The demand for dairy workers, it was said at the service headquarters, exceeds the supply. All requests for help for general farm work are sent promptly. |