CoopEKATiVE Work with Columbia Univeksity 4G5 



FARM ACCOUNTS AND FARM MANAGEMENT 



A. J. ]S[lCOLL 



Farmers' Institute Lecturer 



Many centuries ago Xenophen is credited with having said: 

 " Farming is very profitable to the man who understands it, but it 

 brings the gTeatest trouble and misery to the man who undertakes 

 it without knowledge." This statement will apply to our time as 

 well as to his, 



essentials to success 



The first essential to good farming is a good farm, and the 

 second is a good farmer. In the selection of a" farm one should 

 make sure that the soil is fertile and either naturally or artificially 

 drained; that there is a good supply of pure water from never- 

 failing springs or wells ; and that the buildings are commodious, 

 comfortable, and attractive. 



As a rule, it is much cheaper to buy the buildings with the farm 

 than to erect them after the farm is purchased. It should be situ- 

 ated on a good road and near a good market, a good school, and a 

 good church. Its size shouM be adapted to the kind of farming to 

 be done and the ability of the farmer as a manager. Other things 

 being equal, larger farms are the more profitable. On a small farm 

 the family must be housed and supported, a team and an equip- 

 ment of implements and machines must be maintained and housed, 

 while on a larger area of land with small addition to the equip- 

 ment and some extra help a much larger labor income can be 

 returned to the owner. I do not mean to say that every man who 

 operates a large farm will make a larger labor income than if his 

 farm were smaller ; but that if he is capable of managing the larger 

 area he will be handicapped without it. If, on the other hand, he 

 is a man who cannot successfully keep and manage help and who 

 cannot economically produce and market large quantities of prod- 

 uce, he will be far better ofi^ with the smaller farm. 



Unfortunately, many fanners find themselves in possession of 

 farms that are not just what they would have selected had they 

 been given the opportunity ; and but few can sell and locate else- 

 where. This is also true of the city man who owns a farm. Some- 



