480 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



value of the eggs would be placed in the "paid out" of the "amounts 

 not cash" column and the groceries received in return would be 

 recorded on the "received" side of the "amounts not cash" column. 

 If there was a balance to be paid in cash it would be recorded on 

 the "paid out" side of the cash column on the same line. If a man 

 received a cash balance it would be on the "received" side of the 

 "cash" account — or if he was given credit for it, it would appear 

 on the "received" side of the "amounts not cash" column. This is 

 a common and one of the most difficult items to handle; the rest 

 are fairly easy to take care of. 



THE FEED AND CHORE STATEMENTS. 



Arrangements were made in this diary to take care of feed 

 and chores at the end of the month, rather than during the month. 

 If a man can find time to make his feed record oftener than once a 

 month it will be much better, but most farmers consider this too 

 much work. The feed statement is simply the farmer's estimate 

 of the amount of feed received by the different classes of stock 

 during the month in round numbers. Care should be taken to 

 give the number of animals in a particular class reported, and the 

 total value of the feed fed these animals. The different kind of 

 feed given, that particular class should be recorded separately. 



The chore statement is a simple statement of the average 

 daily time spent in doing the chores for one day in the month. 

 It is assumed that this day will be taken as a representative day 

 for the month. In our experience with daily records we find that 

 this will not vary a great deal from the actual time required. Care 

 must also be taken in the case of the chore statement to state the 

 number of animals cared for in a particular class. The chore and 

 feed statements are made out in duplicate in, the diary, the dupli- 

 cates being sent in to the department for correction each month. 



.A system of duplicate daily reports is used, by means of 

 which we are able to check up on the farmer without the expense 

 of visiting him, and at the same time enable him to make a much 

 better record than he would if we gave him the book and turned 

 him loose to take his notes as he saw best. We simply write to 

 him asking him to make out duplicates, using the blank sheets 

 marked "duplicate" in the back of the diary and send in to us in 

 this way records of certain day's work. We look over these records 

 then, carefully, and are often able to make suggestions to him that 

 will make his record very much more valuable. 



