Mis.'ioiiri Far III, /Vu/.s. 427 



labor-saving devices in kitchen, cooler -kitchen, good cistern, refrigerator, 

 linoleum for floors, good dairy barn, rat-proof yard, better buildings, 

 better sanitary conditions, good cooking lessons, storage battery, better 

 drainage about buildings, less rooms and more closets, better improve- 

 ments, less work in hot weather, stricter housekeeping, greater love of 

 home, world-wide prohibition, less work, more privileges, to be well pro- 

 vided for, a good saving cook, a husband who is at all times agreeable, 

 a law to prevent the employment of girls in work outside of the home, 

 husband to take more interest in pretty yard and shrubbery, fencing, 

 etc. ; means to content woman to her sphere ; none needed. 



MODERN CONVENIENCES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 



Many writers have recently had much to say of the many modern 

 homes in the country. That there are now many more than were to be 

 found a few years ago is evident to all •\\ho have taken pains to investi- 

 gate, yet the number is still very small. According to careful estimates 

 made by Missouri State Board of Agriculture correspondents, represent- 

 ing each of the 114 counties in the state, less than two — 1.84 — per cent, 

 of the rural homes in Missouri are provided with any modern water 

 system. By sections the percentages are : Northeast, 0.93 ; northwest, 

 2.3; central, 2.81; southwest, 2.71; southeast, 0.44. Correspondents give 

 2.56 per cent, as representing the number of farm homes having furnace 

 or other modern heating system. By crop division sections the reports 

 show : Northeast, 2.9 per cent. ; northwest, 4.6 ; central, 2.8 ; southwest, 

 1.56; southeast, 0.1. Gas or other modern lighting, it is estimated, is to 

 be found in 3.23 per cent, of the farm homes of the state — by sections : 

 Northeast, 2.64 per cent.; northwest, 4.15; central, 4.58; southwest, 0.93; 

 southeast, 3.87. 



With 276,081 farm homes in Missouri, as shown ])y the 1910 census, 

 we find that an estimate based on correspondents' reports shows more 

 than 5,000 farm homes having some system of running water, about 7,000 

 farm homes with furnaces or other modern heating system, and ap- 

 proximately 10,000 country residences equipped with acetylene gas or 

 other improved system of lighting. 



Despite all the talk of the large number of automobiles owned by 

 Missouri farmers, correspondents report only 1.3 per cent, of the farm- 

 ers owning autos. It is a pleasure to note, though, that 7.3 per cent, 

 of tlie farmers in Missouri own manure spreaders. Eighty-nine per 

 cent, of the correspondents report more manure spreaders tlinn auto- 

 mobiles bought during the last ten years. 



