BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 307 



COST ACCOUNTING AND FARM RECORDS. 



A great deal of attention has been given to farm records, and sys- 

 tems of bookkeeping suited to the needs of the farmer are being 

 worked out in order that he may be able to ascertain the source of 

 his profits and losses and the cost of the production of farm products. 

 During the coming year it is hoped that a system of bookkeeping 

 that will meet the needs of those farmers whose situation renders a 

 system of accounting desirable and practicable will be ready for 

 publication. 



Methods of acquiring data on the cost of production have now been 

 worked out and very complete records of every detail of operation 

 on a large number of farms are being secured. It will soon be pos- 

 sible to give a first approximation of the average cost of all kinds of 

 farm operations in those sections where this work is conducted. Much 

 of this work has been done in cooperation with State agricultural 

 experiment stations, especially those of Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, 

 New Hampshire, and New York (Cornell University). This work 

 will be extended during the coming year. 



The records obtained in the cost-accounting investigations have 

 enabled the office to study the labor requirements of the different farm 

 industries for all seasons of the year. Information of this kind ren- 

 ders it possible to plan a system of farming that will require approxi- 

 mately the same amount of labor throughout the year instead of 

 requiring a great deal at one season and little or none at other seasons. 

 A large amount of such data is required in order to obtain reliable 

 averages. Such information is accumulating from year to year and 

 as soon as sufficient is at hand it will be summarized and published. 



This work also includes a study of the distribution of the capital 

 invested between real estate, live stock, machinery, equipment, etc., 

 the labor hired, labor performed by the farmer and his family, ex- 

 penditures, and income from all sources. The data obtained from 

 each farm renders it possible to determine the labor income of the 

 farmer and the rate of income on his investment. A report on one 

 study of this kind, including every farm in four townships in south- 

 ern New Hampshire, has already been published and similar work 

 is in progress this year in four States. The results of these investi- 

 gations give valuable information about the comparative adaptability 

 of different types of farming to different sections of the country. 



FARM EQUIPMENT. 



The office has undertaken to determine the proper relation between 

 the various items of equipment and buildings on the farm and to 

 ascertain the relative amounts of capital which it is desirable to 

 invest in the different phases of equipment in all of the principal 

 types of farming. This work is new; while the results obtained are 

 not extensive some of them are of great importance. Comparisons 

 have been made in only a few localities of the cost of the dwelling 

 and the farm income, but they indicate in a general way that the 

 farmer is justified in constructing a dwelling the cost of which is 

 approximately equal to the annual sum which is available for the 

 liymg of the farmer and his family. 



