20 
BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The value of house rent, which is a direct contribution to the 
family living by the farm, is determined by the value of the houses 
found on the farms. The average value of the farm dwelling in 
all size groups of farms from the smallest farms up to those of 80 
acres is nearly the same, and the average for the 476 farms of 80 acres 
or less is $944. On the larger farms the average value of the farm 
dwelling is greater than this figure. Houses in southern Arizona 
rent for about 10 per cent of their value. This gives $94 as the 
average value of the house rent contributed by the farm on the 476 
farms under consideration. These computations are summarized 
in Table V. 
Table V. — Average contribution of the farm to the living of the family and board of hired 
labor on 476 irrigated farms in southern Arizona. 
Items. 
Value. 
Items. 
Value. 
1 S113 
House rent 
S94 
67 
Total 
| 48- 
S354 
32 
Including hired labor, there were on an average 4 adult units on 
these farms, making the contributions of the farm $88.50 per person. 
The farm family averaged the equivalent of 3.5 adult units, which 
makes its share of the living obtained from the farm in round num- 
bers $310. Adding this to the $588 of purchased food gives a living 
requirement of $898 for food and house rent. This leaves other 
items of living expenses such as fuel, clothing, doctor bills, news- 
papers and periodicals, church and benevolent contributions, recrea- 
tions and amusements, books, life insurance, and household furnish- 
ings unprovided for. We have no data on these items for Arizona, 
but if they should be estimated at $400, a very conservative estimate, 
we have in round numbers $1,300 as the living requirement of an 
average farm family in the irrigated valleys of southern Arizona, 
of which the farm contributes $310 and the balance of $890 must 
be purchased out of the farm income and the earnings of any mem- 
bers of the farm family other than the operator, either upon the 
farm or off, the value of such labor on the farm having been 
charged against it as an expense in determining the farm income. 
This estimate does not provide for the payment of any interest on 
borrowed money, nor does it provide for the payment of the con- 
struction charges on the irrigation projects in Salt Kiver and Yuma 
Valleys. Considering the fact that these charges will not be less 
than $2.80 per acre annually for a period of 20 years in Salt Kiver 
Valley, and considerably more than this amount for the same period 
of time in Yuma Valley, it appears from the foregoing figures that a 
farm income of $1,000 above the food and house rent obtained from 
