The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1914-01-27
KITCHEN MoSI
IMPORTANT ROOM
Governments Farm A CHI
tect Points Out Impor-
lance OF An
Economically Constructed
and Comfortable Home
to the Farmer.


of Agriculture, who states |
that the mental and physical fitness
Of the laborers both within the house |
and in the fields are vitality affected
by the building that affords the family
shelter. The average American farm |
home has failed to snare in the inn
provements that are every day being
made in agricultural conditions and,
according to the architect, is a rebuke |
to our boosted civilization. Relative
ly, he says, the housewife of CEN
fury ago with. her fireplace cooking
and log cabin was better provided for
than is the housewife to-day.
The most important building on
farm is the home. The health, com
fort and happiness of the family are
dependent upon its construction and
equipment, and unless these matters
are looked after the sanitary dairy
barn or the economically constructed
buildings for stock are of little value.
Happiness and contentment in the
family are essential to efficient SER
vice as improved tools and outbuild-
ings.
Although the housewife spends, in
many cases, a lifetime in her work
shop the kitchen and the family
rooms, she is not, as rule, capa-
BILE of planning house in the high
est degree serviceable and comforta-
BILE without assistance. Her help,
however, is essential to the farm ar
chitect, as the result of his plans
most vitality concern her.
In 1910 a Western farm paper, at
the suggestion of the Department of
Agriculture, conducted a competition
for farm house plans. About $50 plans
of farm houses were submitted, not
one of which was fully satisfactory.
| The larger number insisted on some
particular pet notion and emphasized
single feature to the neglect OF
ether important ones. The men and
women who familiarize themselves
with the work to be done and then ap-
ply themselves to the single task of
devising means, are the ones who,
with the cooperation OF the farmers,
and their wives, can best handle the
farm house problem.
One of the most important details
regarding the average American farm
| house is that it must be inexpensive.
| The average annual net income of a
[ farmer to-day, after deducting five
per cent. interest on his investment,
/ is less than $4O0 This does not mean
I. that the houses may not be attractive
They may, if intelligently planned
with the help of vines, shrubs and
trees, become the prettiest spots in
the landscape, and more beautiful and
inexpensive than the crowded city
houses.
The tenement-house problem is
growing in Importance, as can be seen
from the fact that the number OF
rented farms increased by more than
$4,000 during the last decade. To.
day little more than half the farms in
this country are operated by the own
ers. 2+@
The possible economy in housewife
labor and the conservation OF the
strength Of the housewife are two Inn
portant factors to be considered In
the construction of a farm house
Pleasant and comfortable farm houses
tend to hold families together; but
the cheeless, unlovable and insanitary
| houses drive boys and girls to the
:! cities. Investigation of prisons, In
1 sane asylums and houses of correc
] ton, seem to prove the fact that the
! sins which account FOR the existence
of these institutions are often bred in
inadequate and unhappy farm homes
! so this social aspect of the problem
is considerable.
! The public is awakening to the fact
that better farm houses are needed
} and the special feature which many
farm papers now issue as HOUSE
inf &C
to thousands of readers.
The Office of Farm Management o
/. the Department of Agriculture hal
now undertaken this problem system
atically and to evolve, if possible
practical improvements for the bene
fit of the farmers home.
Certain features are often over
looked in providing economical al
, rangements for the household whel
they might be easily provided fol-
One of the specialists of the Offic
of Farm Management learned from
a woman i'm Pennsylvania, who ha'
broken down from overwork, that sh
had been carrying coal from the bar
!, for years. When the husband wa
, asked il there was any reason why
coal bunker could not have been pro
!, vided near the cookstove and nile
directly from the wagon, he answere
that there was none, but that no on
e had ever thought of it. This one d.
tail has been found neglected /
. other cases where it could have bee
] remedied if only someone had though
| of it.
After economy in the constructio
D of the building and in the hous
| work has been attained, attention wi
/ be given to developing beauty. Sin
|. plicity in line and good proportion
are meant by the use OF this wor
n beauty, and not so-called applied 20
q uaments." This simplicity is entir
ly in keeping with a general plan
Il economy.
r Economy, however, is not a syl
onym for cheapness. Doub
strength glass may even be more &c
nomical in a tenant house than 81
Gle strength. Notwithstanding i
greater first cost. A kitchen sink ma