FAMILY LIVING IN FARM HOMES. T3 
HOUSE AND HOUSE FURNISHINGS. 
The valuation of the farmhouses in this study was that determined 
in the earlier farm management studies in thesamearea. The values 
ranged from $400 to $8,000, with an average of $2,340, and in each 
case represent about 20 per cent of the total value of the farm." 
Ten per cent of this value was taken as the cost of rent which was 
intended to cover taxes, insurance on the house, repairs, and 6 per 
cent interest on investment. This percentage may seem high for 
farm dwellings, but the value of such property is likely to be under- 
estimated. 
The average rent in the present study, $234, is $108 more than 
the average reported in a study * made in the same county 12 years 
earlier although 8 rather than 10 per cent of the value of the houses 
was the basis taken then. The present figure is also $102 more than 
the average from the farm studies made in 14 States 7 years earlier by 
_ the United States Department of Agriculture #' and $43 more than 
the average paid by the industrial families studied by the United 
States Department of Labor in 1918.% As in the case of such com- 
parison for the other items, allowance should be made for the different 
price levels. 
The number of rooms per person is one of the more generally ac- 
cepted factors for estimating the quality of housing. In Livingston 
_ County, many of the farmhouses were built some years ago when 
_ families were larger and the cost of building and operating a house 
_ was lower, and in many cases not all the rooms are now in use. The 
average number of rooms in use that is, furnished ready for occupancy, 
was 8.8 in the 402 homes. The average number of used rooms and 
bedrooms for each member of the household, according to the num- 
ber of children per family, is shown in Table 4, together with the 
average value of the house. 
_ Taste 4.—Average number of used rooms per person per household in 402 farm homes in 
LInvingston County, N. Y., growped according to the number of children, and average 
value of house. : 
Used rooms per 
person per 
household. | Value 
Number of children per family. Famili -| —— of 
house. 
| All Bed- 
rooms. rooms. | 
Ek TE DARE Le, hie Sa 
| | 
Number.| Number.| Number.\ Dollars 
1s Sap 3 2a oie Pe a Ree 0 ee bg ee ee 75 | 3.1 | L5 2, 370 
2 2225 SR SSS ee eee eee oe 97 2.4 | 1.2 2,570 
RLS iL 2 oe) eee Pee eS Oe ae el ot ee 99 | 1.9 1.0 2,690 
De de 58 | 1.6 .9 2,130 
ot nee cet Se eS et an ae la a Sa ret a So | L.5 -8 2,57 
ee rere ec SR 2G ty 19 1.3 7 | 2,310 
I ee eee eae eee ee 21 1.2 | 6 | 2,350 
mere JOr AN SAMINCS..22 ob oe Slt See ee 402 | 1.9 | 1.0 2, 340 
=~ aoa i to farm famulies of food, fuel, and use of house. W.C. Funk. U.S. Dept. Agr., Dept. Bul. 
a) Farm management. G. F. Warren. P. 26. 1913. 
18 Cost of living in the United States. U.S. Dept. Labor, Bur. Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Rev., 
_ Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 118. 1919. 
