Amateur Farinins^ a Hundred Years A ceo 



rage of all sorts of treatment and seasons, 

 barley, on the contrary, has been attended in 

 the like variety with a considerable profit. 

 Upon, such a review he finds that his dairy of 

 cows pay him far better than his fatting 

 beasts ; that his ewes and lambs are much 

 more profitable than his wethers. He finds 

 by the quantity of work performed by his 

 horse and ox teams, and the expense of each, 

 that the latter are more advantageous, as five 

 to three. This knowledge is beyond all 

 doubt the most valuable part of experience, 

 and can no ways be gained but by regular 

 accounts ; for in what manner can such a 

 review of one's business be othenvise made ? 

 Will any one be so absurd as to assert all, or 

 any part accurately, can be carried from year 

 to year — for four, five, six, or seven — in the 

 head, and founded originally in nought but 

 conjecture? Nor should fugitive notes and 

 memorandums be called accounts ; nothing 

 can effect this great end but a ledger regularly 

 kept. 



In this light surely accounts may be said 

 to be the foundation of good husbandry, and 

 highly possible to convert a bad farmer into a 

 good one. It is by means of them that 

 gentlemen, in one instance, have so great an 

 advantage over common farmers, as to balance 

 in a good measure all the superiorities of the 

 latter. It is by- these means that gentlemen 

 may, if they please, gain more experience in 

 five years than a common farmer can in 

 twenty. Many of them give into unnecessary 

 expenses, prosecute more experiments than 

 their fortunes mil admit, and bring them- 

 selves, by degrees, and unknowingly of the 

 amount, into a want of money. A man that 

 keeps regular accounts may certainly do the 

 same, but he must infallibly know how much 

 he so expends, and be warned regularly of 

 the danger ; which are points of no slight im- 

 portance. 



It is, at present, a common thing to hear 

 disputes in conversation about gentlemen's 

 profits by farming. Some, with great earnest- 

 ness, assert they make money by it ; and 

 others are as strenuous in contradicting the 

 possibility of it. Where I hear these disputes 

 I conclude, of course, that neither party know 



anything at all of the matter, as twenty to one 

 whether accounts are regularly kept by any 

 of them. 



It may be said that regular accounts would 

 be too much trouble ; but, on the contrary, 

 nothing is so troublesome as irregular accounts, 

 and, as to none at all, I never yet met Avith 

 anybody that did not pretend to keep some. 

 A very little thought would make any man 

 perfectly acquainted with all the accounts a 

 farmer can want. The subject is of import- 

 ance enough to demand a little further con- 

 sideration. 



The first book to be mentioned that a 

 gentleman farmer should open, is a Minute- 

 Book. This should be a regular journal of 

 all the transactions of the farm. The bailiff" 

 should keep this. The following is the form 

 which I use : — 



June 21. 

 '• Three ploughs in six acres. 



" A pair of harrows, ditto, covering the turnip 

 seed. 



" The frosty cow calved. 



" The waggon to London for ashes. 



June 22. 

 '' Four ploughs^ half a journey in eight acres : 

 the horses then went to , for dun^^ 



" The black sow pigged 9. 



" Begun to hand-hoe the carrots in the three 

 acres the second time. 



" Sold five fat beasts to the butcher the 

 price £aI-' 



This will explain my meaning ; there can 

 be no transaction of any sort but what should 

 be thus registered. I recommend the short 

 lines between each article, to keep the bailiff" 

 from crowding his WTiting close together. 

 Those kind of people will be so sparing of 

 paper that it is difficult to read what they 

 write. 



Next comes the Cash Book, to be balanced 

 every Saturday night. This is only for a check 

 upon the person who keeps it, and that the 

 disbursements and receipts may be regularly 



