6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



with the weary body comes the inactive, sluggish mind ; for the mind is very 

 much influenced by tlie body which it inhabits. And when the farmer is 

 ca'Ued uiion to make a mental effort, be shrinks from it. Physical labor ia 

 easier to him than mental. Tlie hand, too, which daily j;;uide8 the plow, or 

 wields the shovel, scythe, and hoe, becomes stijQTened, and often tremulous, 

 and the manual exercise of writing becomes difficult. 



The first reason then, why farmers do not keep a written account of their 

 operations is, that they are constantly weary, both mind and body, with hard 

 work, and the exsrcise of writing, under such circumstances, is an unwelcome 

 task. A second reason is this, they do not fully appreciate the advantages to 

 be derived from keeping a daily journal of all their labors. This may be 

 treated more properly under the following head : 



Why shouhl every farmer keep a *^Farm Account P^ First, it should be 

 done, because, without a general debit and credit account with his farm, he 

 cannot know with any degree of certainty wiiether he is gaining or losing by 

 his operations ; whether he is adding to his estate, or becoming poor. Thia 

 every prudent man, and lionest citizen sliouldknow; else little by little, he 

 may be coming to poverty, his family to want, and his creditors to a dis- 

 honestly bad debt. 



Again, it should be done, beiause, if the farmer is, on the whole, making a 

 gain, it is a satisfaction to know it ; and this adds, specially to his own, and 

 generally to the sum total of human happiness. A knowledge of this fact too, 

 encourages him in the prosecution of his business. For with greater zeal, and 

 more ardent energy any man will pursue an avocation which can be proved a 

 lucrative one. 



Not only a general profit and loss account with the whole farm, but a par- 

 ticular account sliould be kept with each crop, each field, and each animal. 

 And for the reason, that without such particular account, the farmer cannot 

 know what are paying crops, and what are produced only at a loss; he can- 

 not tell what fields yield a profit, and what are cultivated only at an outset; 

 what animals are a source of gain, and what a source of loss. Now it is the 

 height of folly for any farmer to persist in growing any crop which" leaves 

 him deeper in debt at eacli successive trial ; yet many farmers do this, simply 

 because they do not know what the cost of the crop is. A carefully kept 

 account would at once correct this error. Many an acre of land yields ita 

 owner little or no profit, year after year; or it may become worse than profit- 

 less, a tiill of expense ; yet the fact is not discerned, only because the debit 

 and credit are not drawn out in o[ipot*ing columns. Many an animal is raised, 

 well fed, well housed, well cared lor in every particular, and kept upon the 

 farm to old age, which at no time in its existence is worth its cost. A correct 

 account of debit and credit with the various departments of almost any farm 

 would reveal many a leak in tlie firmer's pocket, little dreamed of now. Not 

 one farmer in an hundred can tell — except in the Yankee way of guessing — 

 what is the cost of raising a busliel of any of the various kinds of grain, or 

 roots ; what the cost of a ton of hay ; the cott of producing a pound of beef, 

 butter, cheese, inuttt)n or wool, and of course does not know where to direct 

 his efl'orts in order to secure the greatest profit. To use a slang phrase, "he 

 goes it blind,"' and at the year's end wonders why, with his weary hours of 

 hard work, he finds so few coppers in his jiocket; when the truth is, the 

 missing coppers are not the result of inefficient effort, but of effort unwisely 

 directed. 



One farmer, favorably located, can grow corn at a cost of forty, fifty, or 

 sixty cents per busliel ; while his neighbor, occupying a soil of difi'erent char- 

 acter, cannot produce the same crop at a less cost than one dollar per bushel. 

 'I"he former can make money at raising corn, while the latter becomes poorer 

 by at least ten cents each bushel raised. Neither of them know from actual 

 calculation what their corn costs them ; the first guesses it is a profitalile crop, 

 and guesses rightly ; the latter guesses he can raise corn as well as his neigh- 



