HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



HOME MAKING 



BETTER HOMES DEMAND 



BETTER KITCHENS 



To begin better homes in the kitchen 

 may seem as prosaic as undertaking 

 charity work at close range. Yet no less 

 a person than Herbert Hoover has stated 

 that in his opinion we Americans in our 

 efforts to secure a home-abiding, home 

 owning people have "overlooked the laun- 

 dry and the kitchen, and thrown the bulk 

 of our efforts in directions other than 

 those designed to make better homes by 

 adding to the facilities for our habita- 

 tions". 



The kitchen improvement project is 

 made up of four meetings. Each home- 

 maker is required to make a crude plan 

 of her kitchen. The stove is here, the 

 supply cupboard here, the bake pans here 

 and the sink here. Then she proceeds 

 to make a cake perhaps and routes her- 

 self all over that kitchen. Before she 

 has gone far she realizes that too many 

 of her belongings are "there" instead of 

 "here" where they are needed. 



The differences between here and there 

 in this one operation of making a cake, 

 added and then multiplied by the number 

 of cakes she must bake in a year and this 

 sum added to the necessary steps down 

 through the years that she has kept the 

 baking powder can ten steps from the 

 rolling pin involve dizzily high mathema- 

 tics. 



Similarly in all the other projects a 

 study of her own equipment as to what 

 is needed and what is available tells the 

 story. Exhibits at Farmers' Week, at 

 county and state fairs, help to convince 

 her that though a mop wringer costs two 

 dollars and fifty cents, useless strain in 

 the muscles of the back costs far more 

 in the course of twenty-five or fifty years. 

 She gives herself an imaginary fifty 

 dollars to spend and studies her posses- 

 sions and what is better, those of her 

 friends and acquaintances, to determine 

 where the money will be most advantage- 

 ously invested. For the difference in cost 

 between poor equipment and good is con- 

 sidered not an expense but an investment. 

 Of other kitchen ware she takes stock. 

 She asks herself how much of it is useless 

 or worthless and bought becau.se of lack 

 of knowledge or because of the smooth 

 talk of a salesman. Look your egg- 

 beater in the face and ask yourself if 

 you would buy another like it if you had 

 it to do over again. Then begins the 

 study of iron and steel ware, galvanized, 

 enameled, tinned or Japanned ware, alu- 

 minum ware, all their little tempermental 

 tendencies are laid bare. 



Next the yard stick gets busy although 

 it's not really needed to show that the 

 kitchen sink is inches too low for the 

 height of the woman who u.ses it. The 



kitchen table also is probably too low 

 even with a high stool which more than 

 likely never existed. 



How about the floor? asks lesson four. 

 How big is your kitchen? How much 

 would it cost to lay a new floor or cover 

 the present one with linoleum? Which 

 would be better? Is money in the bank 

 a better investment than in the kitchen? 



As a result of this project it is hoped 

 that many a better home will begin in 

 the kitchen. 



LErS HAVE AN HONEST 

 TO GOODNESS GARDEN 



THIS YEAR 



Now that it is time for the new seed 

 catalogues to arrive, suppose we take two 

 or three of these long winter evenings 

 and look a few facts about the farm and 

 home garden in the face. 



It is estimated that forty per cent of 

 the average working man's wages aie 

 spent for food. The farmer of course 

 saves by home production a large part 

 of this expense, and that is one of the 

 reasons why a farmer is sometimes said 

 to be the only man who can be bankrupt 

 and still continue business. He is, or 

 should be, sure of a living. 



It is possible, however, to save a much 

 larger part of that forty per cent than 

 most farmers do. Recent figures from a 

 three-year experiment with a farm gar- 

 den of one-fourth acre at the University 

 of Missouri gave an average annual pro- 

 duction of vegetables to the g:i-oss value 

 of $180.69. The value was arrived at by 

 crediting price of the product on the day 

 it was taken from the garden with the 

 lowest market price when harvested. The 

 total costs labor, fertilizer and so forth, 

 were $46. .5.5 leaving a net return of 

 $1.34.14. On an acre basis, this would 

 be $5.36.56. What other farm area can 

 show a like return? The number of i 

 hours of labor on this garden averaged 

 89 and the return for each hour was 

 $1.76. 



On a smaller garden of one twentieth 

 acre, crops were grown having a new 

 value of $47.38, which, on an acre basis, 

 would give the astonishing total of 

 $947.60. 



If any housewife wishes to use these 

 figures in arguing with her husband she 

 is welcome to do so. She might also 

 suggest to him that it is possible to raise 

 a home supply of vegetables as other 

 crops are raised with rows well spaced 

 for horse cultivation and without the 

 raised beds and general fussiness of many 

 home gardens. She will wish a good 

 variety of vegetables, but should insist 

 especially on plenty of tomatoes, leaf veg- 

 etables, cabbage, onions, carrots, beets 

 and string beans. 



The .study of nutrition, of food needs 

 and food values, tends to change the diet 

 in the direction of the things that the 

 farm produces — milk, vegetables and 

 fruit. The amount of purchased food- 

 sugar, white flour, meat and the like is 

 of couise proportionately less. 



Groups of women in various states have 

 undertaken a study of foods under the 

 guidance of the extension workers. They 

 are being taught among other things that 

 each person should eat each day at least 

 two servings of vegetables besides pota- 

 toes. When the facts of nutrition are 

 generally known and really believed, we 

 shall have a home garden boom greater 

 than that during the war and much more 

 substantial and permanent. The fact that 

 the health of children suffers even more 

 than that of adults from a lack of vege- 

 tables in the diet should make a powerful 

 appeal to all parents, and they should 

 plan their gardens so that the food sup- 

 ply will be what it should be. 



SOMETHING WORTH 



TRYING FOR 



$5,000.00 In Cash Prizes Offered By 



Karm and Home in a National 



Better Home Contest 



Following are some notes copied from 

 Farm and Home: 



"What is the finest thing on earth? The 

 home! And the best feature in rural and 

 village life to-day is the ambition on the 

 part of nearly everyone to make his home 

 better, more attractive and convenient. 



To encourage and inspire you and our 

 other leaders to improve your homes and 

 your home surroundings during 1924,. 

 Farm and Home is oflfering 150 cash 

 prizes amounting in all to $5,000.00. 



Regardless of your present circum- 

 stances, regardless of where you live, 

 whether in a modest home or in a more 

 pretentious one, regardless of whether 

 your receipts are small or large, you have 

 as good a chance to win one of our prizes 

 as the next person. These prizes will be 

 awarded by an impartial group of com- 

 petent and fair-minded judges in no way 

 connected with Farm and Home and will 

 be paid in cash. 



What the Prizes are Offered For 



Our contest starts on .January 1st, 

 1924, and ends on December 1st, 1924. 

 We make it worth while for you, during 

 these eleven months, to improve your 

 home surroundings. 



It is not a question of largo spending, 

 but rather one of using each dollar so 

 spent to the best advantage in making 

 improveinents in and about your home, 

 that will determine which prize you win. 

 You, through the wise and sensible ex- 

 • 'ontiiiuod nn page 5, column 2 



