FAMILY LIVING IN FARM HOMES. EE 
FOOD. 
As shown in Tables 1 and 2, the food annually consumed in the 402 
families had an average value of $794, or 39.2 per cent of the total 
expenditures, and of this almost equal values were furnished by the 
farm and purchased. Among owner families slightly more was fur- 
- nished ah less purchased than among tenant families, and the total 
cost was slightly lower, but the differences are not striking. 
The value of the food consumed and the percentage furnished by 
the farm were estimated as $401 and 62 per cent, respectively, in a 
study made in 1909 in Livingston County farm homes.t In a series 
of studies made by the Department of Agriculture during 1913-14 
_ among nearly 1,000 farm families in 14 States, the value of food was 
$448, of which 58 per cent came from the farm.*® 
Compared with these, the values for the families in the present 
Livingston County study are highest, even when the varying price 
levels are taken into consideration. 
The data collected in the present study include the quantities as 
well as the costs of the more important kinds of food, such as milk, 
butter, eggs, different meats, flours, meals, vegetables, fruits, and 
staple groceries. From these the energy and general nutritive value . 
of the diet can be calculated, but this has not yet been done. The 
indications are that the diet of these families will prove to be similar 
to that of the farm families included in a dietary study made by this 
department in 1918-19. According to that survey, the average 
American farm diet yields slightly more energy and protein than that 
in the average town or city home, and costs slightly less. It is fairly 
varied, but in many cases a freer use of dairy products, eggs, green 
vegetables, and fruits would provide more surely for the mineral 
matter, vitamins, and bulk féeded for health and normal development. 
CLOTHING. 
The average expenditure for clothing by the 402 families was $277, 
or 13.8 per cent of the total. This includes gifts worth about $4 per 
family. These gifts consisted chiefly of partly worn garments for 
_ children and were not found in all the families. When clothing was 
made at home the cost of materials and of specially hired labor was 
included but not the labor given by regular members of the household. 
Neither the cost of professional cleaning and repairing nor the value 
of the time spent by the women of the household in laundry work 
and mending was noted. ‘There are no significant differences in the 
figures for owner and tenant families. 
The cost of the clothing provided for each member of the family at 
home was listed separately on the schedules so that differences in the 
amounts spent for persons of different age and sex could be deter- 
mined, and the results are summarized in Table 3. 
4 Farm management. G.F. Warren. P. 23-26. 1913. 
fia to farm families of food, fuel, and use of house. W.C. Funk. U.S. Dept. Agr., Dept. Bul. 410. 
6 Food for farm families. H.W. Atwater. U.S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1920, p. 471-484. 1921. 
