In an effort to arouse cooperation in the University to meet the increasing shortage of farm laborers, a drive was launched yesterday by Andrew E. Rice '43 to recruit volunteers to spend the summer working on the farms of New Hampshire and Vermont in the Volunteer Land Corps.

According to Rice, who has been asked by officials of the national organization that is sponsoring the program to be in complete charge of the campaign here, the volunteers will be placed on individual farms and will receive the soldiers wage of $21 a month.

Started by Dorothy Thompson in December to help meet a 30 per cent shortage to farm workers caused by the draft and by the higher wages being offered in defense industries the program has been approved here by several members of the Faculty, among whom is Carl J. Friedrich, professor of Government. The Corps hopes to enroll at least 2,000 students from the colleges of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Girls, he revealed, will be recruited on the same basis as men, but will be given household tasks and some of the lighter farm work. Men, of course, will do the heavier jobs, such as haying, threshing and splitting wood.

This new farm program, Rice said, will serve much the same function as Camp William James, which was forced to close last August because of financial difficulties. It has received the support of American Defense Harvard Group, the Defense Service Committee, and several other organizations.