The Prescott daily news., 1915-01-02
WHAT IS THE FARM
 FRS REAL INCOME

Slve investigations into the profits of farming have indicated that the amount of money which the average farmer receives for his years work is little more than that which he would be paid if he hired himself out as a farm hand to one af his i.hbors. In other words, though the farmer is
 ID business fo' himself, the average farmer gets little or TO money reward Tor the intell gence and skill! with which he has managed his affairs or the risk and responsibility he has as sumed. But he must get something iii return or no one would trouble to farm Tor himself. A recent stuGY con- ducted by.experts in the United Stat es Department of Agriculture shows that in many cases this reward may best be found in the products with which his farm furnishes him directly. When a farm early. if not quite, self-sustaining, agricultural eX- perts, when it sup the family that lives upon it with most of the neces- sities of life, large money income is not necessary to prosperity. A great CT sum derived from farm which yields nothing for home consumption may leave the occupants much worse of.
 Under the title of Farmers Bulletin |635, What The Farm Contributes Di- rectly To The Farmers Living" the Department of Agriculture is about to publish the results of a Survey of con |ditions on large number of farms in the ten States of North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Wis consin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
 York, and Vermont. The farms select ed for study, though possibly little more prosperous than the average,
 were fairly representative of their sec tions which, it will be noted, included three corn and cotton areas, two States in the corn and wheat belt, two regions where general farming
 was carried on, and three different dairy districts. The average value of the chief necessities of life-food, fuel oil, and shelter-used each year by the farm family the Investigators found 10 be $595.0S. Of these necessi- ties, estimated in money, the portion
 contributed directly by the farm was $421.17, leaving $173.91 to be purchas- ed with the cash obtained from the sale of products. In considering these figures it must be remembered that if
 the farmer had been compelled to pay city prices for his home grown necessi-
 ties, this $421.17 would have repre-
 sented much less comfort.
 Of food consumed 63 per cent was furnished by the farm. This propor-
 tion varied greatly in the different
 sections but was greatest in the local lity studied in North Carolina, where
 the farms supplied 82.3 per cent of the
 food consumed while the average in
 the New York locality was only 50.4
 Tn view of the present economic crisis
 in the South this fact is regarded as of particular significance since it demon strates the extent to which with a proper system of agriculture South ern farms can be made self-sustain- ing Concentration upon one cash crop, cotton, has proved disasterous and agricultural authorities are now
 trying in every way to induce the peo- pie to adopt system which will lead to conditions similar to those now pre- vailing in this particular area of North Carolina.
 In this connection the Investigation revealed interesting facts in regard to the four items of groceries, animal products, fruits, and vegetables in the average farm family's food bill. Of the value of the food consumed gro ceries constituted practically one quarter, animal products more than ne-half, vegetables 11.6 per cent and fruit only 6.3. Practically all of the groceries were bought; on the other hand the quantity of fruits and vege- tables used was in direct proportion to the quantity raised on the farm and where this quantity was great the gro
 cery bill was correspondingly low. This was also found to be true of ani- nal products, including of course not only butchers meat, but poultry, eggs, milk, cheese, etc. Where these were