6 BULLETIX 1338, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 
The data on the cost of living in farm homes of 2,074 farm families 
from 1919 to 1923 were obtained in six localities in New York, Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Iowa. The locality in Livingston 
County, N. Y., is one of diversified farming with market milk the 
leading dairy product. The localities in Kentucky, one in Mason 
County and the other in the bluegrass region, are typical of general 
farming with tobacco an important cash crop. The data on Tennes- 
see cover localities in several counties with tobacco an important 
cash crop in Montgomery County and cotton in Madison County. 
In the black prairie land' of Texas the percentage of tenantry is very 
high and a one-crop system of farming with cotton as the basis 
prevails. Corn belt types of farming prevail in the locality in 
central Iowa. These studies on the cost of living in farm homes have 
been made by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics cooperating 
with the several States. The Livingston County study was made in 
cooperation with the Bureau of Home Economics. 
THE FAMILY LIVING FROM THE FARM 
The items in the make-up of the family living from the farm 
for each locality and each year are presented in Table 2, from which 
the following summary has been made : 
Ninety- two per cent of the value of the family living from the farm 
may be grouped in 6 items: House rent, fuel, dairy products, poultry 
and eggs, pork and lard, and fruit and vegetables. (See Table 2 
and fig. 3.) 
House rent made up 36 per cent of the value of the family living 
from the farm; fuel, 3 per cent; and food, 61 per cent. Of the food 
items, animal products made up 74 per cent and crops 26 per cent of 
the value. Among the animals, the cow, the hog, and the hen 
ranked in the order named in supplying the family with food, and 
pork ranked first among the meats. 
The value of the family living from the farm was higher in 1918 
and 1919 than in 1921 and 1922, almost entirely as a result of price 
levels. From the former to the latter period the price level of food 
had dropped while that for house rent had gone up, both of which 
are in accord with commodity trends. 
There are no marked indications from the data that families living 
in the better agricultural localities obtained more family living from 
the farm than did those in the poorer localities. The house rent was 
valued at a little more, which indicates greater values in houses in the 
better farming: localities. 
