Danskeren. [volume] (Neenah, Wis.) 1892-1920, 1914-01-28
GOOD FARM HOMES. y
The Kitchen The Most Important
Room in The Farm House.
Government Farm Architect
Points Out Importance of an
Economically Construct
ed and Comfortable
Home to the Farmer.

having an economical farm house
has been emphasized by the farm
architect of the Department of
Agriculture, who states that the
mental and physical fitness of
the laborers both within the
house and in the fields are vital
ly affected by the building that
affords the family shelter. The
average American farm home has
failed to share in the improve
ments that are every day being
made in agricultural conditions
and, according to the architect,
is a rebnke to III boosted civil
cation. Relatively, he says, the
housewife of a century ago with
her fireplace cooking and log
cabin was better provided for
than is the housewife today.
The most important building
on a farm is the home. The
health, comfort 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 con
structed buildings for stock are
of little value. Happiness and
contentment in the family r as
essential to efficient service as
improved tools and outbuildings.
Although the housewife spends,
in many eases, a lifetime in her
workshop" the kitchen and the
family rooms, she is not, as a
rule, capable of planning a house
in the highest degree seryiceable
and comfortable without assis-
lance. Her help, however is es-
sential to the farm architect, as
the result of his plans most vital
ly concerns her.
In 1910 a western farm paper,
at the suggestion of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, conducted
a competition for farm house
plans. About Geo plans of farm
houses were submitted, not one
Of which was fully satisfactory.
The larger number insisted on
some particular pet notion and
emphasized a single feature to
the neglect of other important
ones. The men and women who
familiarize themselves with the
work to be done and then apply
themselves to the single task OF
deyising means, r the ones
who. with the cooperation of the
farmers, and their wives, can
best handle the farm house pro
blem.
One Of the most important de-
tails regarding the average Anne
rican farm house is that it must
be inexpensive. The average an
nual net income of a farmer to-
day, after deducting five per
cent interest on his investment,
is less than 800. This does not
mean that the houses may not be
attractive. They may, if intel
igently planned with the help
of vines, shrubs and trees, be-
come the prettiest spots in the
landscape, and more beautiful
and inexpensive than the crowded
city houses.
/ The tenant-house problem is
growing in Importance as can be
seen from the fact that the mum
Der of rented farms increased by
more than 324,0O0 during the
last decade. Today little more
than half the farms in this coun-
try are operated by the owners,
70 economic the housewives
strength.
The possible economy in house
hold labor and the conservation
of the strength Of the housewife
are two important factors to be
considered in the construction of
a farm house. Pleasant and com
Portable farm homes tend to hold
families together; but the cheer
less, unlovable and insanitary
houses drive boys and girls to the
cities. Investigation Of prisons,
insane asylums and houses of
correction, seem to prove the
fact that the sins which account
for fbo ayiatauoa ~ fheco ineti-