VALUE OP FOOD, FUEL, AND USE OF HOUSE. 



33 



Table XXIV. — Relation of size of house to size of farm, size of family, food consumption 

 per person, and value of house. 



County and State. 



Gloucester, N. J. 



Oxford, Me . 



(7 and less . . . 



8and9 



[lO and over . 

 |7 and less.. . 



•^8and9 , 



llOand over. 

 (7 and less... 



{8and9 



[10 and over . 

 (5 and less.. . 



Santa Clara, Cal 76 and 7 



1 8 and over . . 



Cass, N. Dale. 



Size of house 

 (rooms). 





Average 



Persons 



Consump- 



Number 



size of 



tion of 



of farms. 



farm 



(acres). 



family. 



food per 

 perscn. 



32 



38 



3.7 



$152.52 



48 



67 



4.6 



118.41 



46 



92 



5.4 



120. 83 



50 



84 



3.9 



88.28 



48 



109 



4.8 



92.30 



48 



148 



4.7 



102. 80 



56 



333 



5.5 



103.51 



27 



458 



6.9 



101. 70 



26 



706 



6.9 



118. 70 



25 



48 



4.1 



91.24 



33 



39 



5.3 



98.40 



25 



52 



5.4 



113.71 



Average 

 value of 

 house. 



1, 591 

 2,237 



642 

 1,091 

 1,624 



998 

 2,240 

 2,900 



738 

 1,516 

 2,335 



HOUSEHOLD LABOR. 



The subject of household labor is included in this study, as it has 

 an important bearing on the business operations of the farm. Con- 

 ditions are generally such that the hired help have to board with 

 the farm family. The housewife often cares for the family garden, 

 does the laundry work for the household, and at times churns the 

 butter. In doing so, she is contributing to the success of the farm, 

 and is performing productive labor for that farm. 



On the farms studied in this inqmry comparatively little help was 

 hired for doing housework, most of the work being done by the 

 farmer's wife and other members of the family. More than three- 

 fourths of the f amiUes visited did not hire any labor for housework. 

 Table XXV shows the average value of the house labor per family 

 and per person for each section and the proportion of this, hired. It 

 wiU be noticed that on an average 5 per cent of the labor was hired, 

 this per cent varying from 1 to 15. 



The average value of the house labor for aU families visited was 

 S228 per family and $49 per person. This value was determined by 

 securing the wife's estimate of what she woidd have to pay a house- 

 keeper to do the work for her. These estimates were based on the 

 prevailing wages of domestic help in each region. 



One of the serious diflB-Culties confronting the farmer's wife is the 

 labor problem. Domestic help is hard to get and often inefhcient 

 when secured. Along with this problem goes that of boarding the 

 hired man. The average hired man demands more meat and a 

 greater variety of diet than the wife would go to the trouble of pre- 

 paring as a regular thing if the family alone were to be served. A 

 tenant house on the large farm, permitting the hiring of married help, 

 would tend to solve the house labor problem. 



