VALUE OF FOOD, FUEL, AND USE OF HOUSE, 29 
serve as storage places for vegetables and fruits.. Probably as much 
as 30 per cent of the vegetables furnished by the farm are stored for 
later use by the farm family, and potatoes, the most important 
vegetable, are stored for at least nine months of the year in sections 
other than the South. Apples may easily be stored for six months. 
Sweet potatoes, cabbages, white beans, beets, and onions may be 
stored for some time without any special preparation. Some vege- 
tables and fruits are dried and kept in this form. Many families store 
their fruits and vegetables and find it unnecessary to buy at any time 
of the year. 
About 30 per cent of the meat consumed by the farmers is meat 
that 1s supplied by the farm and stored for a certain length of time. 
This is made possible by the several available methods of curing. 
The most common method of curing meat is smoking. A special 
room or building is needed for this process, but the fuel used is 
generally wood of little value. There seems to be a tendency to do 
less curing of meat on the farm, owing probably to efforts to elimi- 
nate house labor. 
A scheme for having a farm supply of fresh meat during the sum- 
mer months is practiced in certain communities. <A ‘‘beef club” is 
organized among a dozen or more farmers who trade beef. A mem- 
ber will butcher a beef animal, and it will be distributed equally 
among the members. The other members will take turns in sup- 
plying an animal in other weeks. When a difference in quantity 
occurs between members it is equalized at a fair rate per pound. 
They may have a butcher who gets the hide and tallow for his work. 
By this system the farmers can have fresh beef during the summer 
at farm prices. 
FUEL. 
The farm serves as an important source of fuel for the average 
farm family. Fifty-four per cent (Table X XI) of the fuel used by 
the families visited was supplied by the farm. The average value 
of the fuel used per family was $55.14. This, however, does not 
include kerosene used by occasional families for cooking during the 
summer. 
The average consumption of coal was 2.6 tons per family. In 
the North Dakota area the average family used 3.7 tons of hard coal 
and 3.1 tons of soft coal. In addition to the wood and coal used, 
as indicated in Table XXI, the average family in the Kansas area 
used 12 loads of corncobs, and in the Iowa area 7.8 loads. 
