The Use of Time in Farm Homes

1928

National Agricultural Library

Nebraska Experiment Station Bulletin. Number 230

How much time do farm people spend in the work of making a living and providing for the future, and how much in recreation, education, mere idleness, or in positively harmful practices? Nobody can give entirely satisfactory answers, but this bulletin attempts to throw some light on the problems involved. It presents part of the data gathered in a survey conducted largely for other purposes. It does not present a complete study of the use of time on farms but it does show in part how the men, women, and children on Nebraska farms use their time.

Time may be spent in (1) the business of getting the necessities of life, (2) accumulating a surplus, (3) recreation, (4) self-improvement, (5) mere idleness, or (6) harmful practices. Nebraska farm people probably spend more time in the first two and less in the last two of these ways than most non-farm people. Just what is the best use of time depends on circumstances and must be a matter of opinion. The purpose here is mainly to show how time is actually used rather than how it ought to be used.