June, 1937] 



Land Utilization in New Hampshire 



27 



The supplies from the farm averaged $211 per farm and consisted 

 largely of milk, eggs, potatoes, garden, and fuel wood. A few reported 

 berries and a larger number reported one or more barrels of apples 

 from old partly abandoned apple trees. While most operators reported 

 a garden it was evident that the possibilities of adding to the quality of 

 living through a wide variety of vegetables and small fruits in a well- 

 planned garden was not fully employed. 



Some conception of the value of food supplies taken by individual 

 families is illustrated in Table 11. Family A produce very little for 

 themselves and Family B produce milk, eggs, poultry, and garden 

 crops in abundance for themselves. 



Table 11. Fa)-ui supplies consumed on three selected farms. 



Cash Living Expenditures 



The expenditure (Table 12) for living indicates that on the average 

 the families use about 70 per cent of their personal expenditures for 

 food. In Group 1 (less than $50 sales of agricultural products) the 

 proportion for food was 75 per cent. This high proportion of expense 

 for food is the usual situation wherever content of living is low. It 

 suggests only partial utilization of the possibilities of a self-sufficing 

 agriculture as well as a very meager income. 



It is evident also that with only small supplies of fruit available from 

 the farm very limited amounts are purchased. Thus, the lack of cash 

 for living may in some instances result in low dietary standards. In 

 this connection on 29 of the 252 farms were families with children of 

 pre-school or grammar school ages and no cow. Probably most of these 

 cases had no regular supply of milk. 



Expenditures for items other than food averaged $112. The item 

 for amusement of $2.00 per family seems extremely low but most fam- 

 ilies reported that they did not attend movies. In fact movies are not 

 very accessible to the population. 



In content of living, the families represent a population with ex- 

 tremes. Certain families have a very wholesome and adequate con- 

 tent of living but a large number were living under depressed condi- 

 tions. 



