238 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Crops in 1856 and 1857. 

 Cr. Contra. 



1858. 



June 1. By cash aalea during two years — of 

 Cattle .. .. £412 9 1 

 Sheep .. .. 224 8 1 



Pigs .. .. 138 9 2 



Total live stock , . 775 6 4 



Wheat .. .. 984 18 10 

 Barley .. .. 478 4 9 



Oats .. .. 269 2 3 



Total corn .. 1,732 5 10 



Potatoes .. .. 457 1 1 

 Turnips to sheep .. 133 6 10 

 Turnipseed.. .. 337 10 10 



Grass, hay, &c. .. 40 7 9 

 Dairy of 12 cows .. 122 11 9 



Total green crop. . 1,090 18 3 



Total cash sales . . £3,598 10 5 



By corn, &c., &c., used for 

 servants' provisions and 

 household supplies,* under 

 the following heads, viz. : 



Wheat 164 12 3 



Barley 13 8 9 



Oats 202 6 10 



Beans and tares .. .. 6 17 6 



Potatoes 159 3 8 



Turnipseed, and rent of land 1 qo q n 



occupied by . . . . J 



Rye-grass-sced .. .. 10 14 



Dairy 63 3 4 



652 14 4 



By valuation of live stock, viz. : 



Horses 320 



Cattle 410 



Sheep 140 



Pigs 27 10 



897 10 



£5,148 14 9 



The foregoing account might.be epitomised as fol- 

 lows :^ 



Crops 1857 and 1857. 

 Dr. Farm. 



To ordinary expenditure for two years, as follows, viz. : 



Eental, rates, &c £1,018 9 



Labour, tradesmen, and \ , ,05 ly ^ 

 charge .. .. J ' 



Seeds 500 11 



Manures 413 16 9 



Depreciation in value of, T 

 and food bought for I. 112 7 

 horses , . . . J 



£3,181 1 4 



To extraordinary expenditure, viz. : 



Implements .. .. 65 17 



Improvements, &nd lime . . 130 2 10 



195 19 10 



Total expenditure £3,377 1 2 



To balsnce for profit and interest. . ... 548 16 2 



£3,925 17 4 



* The total amount included under the head " Household 

 supplies" does not exceed £50 in two years, so no great error 

 in over-estimation can have been made. The provisions used 

 in kitchen are all charged to " servants' provisions," per con- 

 tra; and ths portion used by the female servants is considered 

 to meet the value of their services in dairy-work, their money- 

 wages going in cash-book to the account of " household and 

 personal expenditure." 



I Crops 1856 and 1857. 



Cr. Contra. 



By produce for t'^o crops of — 



Wheat £1,149 11 1 



Barley .. .. . .. 491 13 6 



Oats (besides horse-corn) , , 471 9 1 



Total cereals 2,112 13 8 



Beans, hay, &c 57 19 3 



Turnips to sheep .. .. 133 6 10 



Potatoes 616 4 9 



Turnipseed ., .. 334 18 10 



Profit on live stock (deduct- 1 gyn t 4 q 

 ing purchase for food) . . J 



Total grass and green-crop land 1,813 3 § 



Totalreturns £3.925 17 4 



The purchased manures amount to 148. per arable acre per 

 annum. Including purchased feeding stuffs, the expenditure 

 amounts to within a fraction of 203. per arable acre per 

 annum. 



Tnis is a rate of expenditure which may fairly be held to 

 characterize a system of " high farming ;" and the wtiter is 

 rather inclined to exceed than to fall short of*a similar liberal 

 expenditure in future years. 



Per Acre per Annum. 

 The gross returns are . . .. .. .. £6 11 3 



The rental is twhich, when the soil, &c., are"! 



taken into account, will be considered a > 1 12 7 

 high rate) , . . . . . . . . . J 



The residue to the tenant is ,. .. .. 18 4 



The foregoing accounts are not accounts '•' cooked" 

 for the occasion, but, as has been already stated, are 

 faithfully taken from the business books of the farm, 

 and were kept without any view to their condensation 

 into a published statement. 



Having thus given, in accordance with the require- 

 ments of the Society, an account of " the eocj)enditur e 

 and returns" of the farm reported on, I now proceed 

 to explain, also in accordance with those requirements, 

 '' the mode of accounting" which I follow. 



It is very simple. The term of old Whitsunday (for con- 

 venience say 1st June) is the time of balancing the year's 

 accounts. By this time the corn of the past season is all 

 thrashed, and either sold or in granary. It is not valued over 

 to the next crop, the actual returns when sold being the credit 

 to the crop it belongs to. The winter stock of cattle, sheep, 

 &c., are then either sold, or valued and turned over to summer 

 grazing. 



The seed-corn, &c., sown, is credited to the past, and 

 charged to the incoming year at its fair value, as will be seen 

 at the debit and credit of the foregoing balance-sheet. 



The farm-work performed, the manure and straw are not 

 brought into account. Transferring accounts of tillage, &c., 

 from one year to another, i« an unnecessary comphcation, as 

 there can be very little difference between one year and 

 another, under one system of management ; and the valuing 

 of ploughings, cross ploughings, harrowings, and grubbings, 

 only serves to confuse and mislead, except in the case of a 

 change of tenancy. In like manner the stock of straw and 

 manure, at any particular period, varies but little from year 

 to year. 



Implements also do not require to be annually valued ; for 

 it will be found that, to keep up with the improvements of the 

 day, new purchases must be made to an extent sufficient at 

 least to balance any per-centage that would be required for 

 deterioration on the old stock. It will be observed that 

 £56 4s. 9d. were thus expended during the two years re- 

 ported on ; and here it may be observed, that, so strictly had 

 this rule been observed, that an amount of £52 18s. 6d., paid 

 for attaching horse-power machinery to the water-thrashing 

 mill, was charged against the then current year (1856); but 

 on further consideration it appeared but right that this charge 

 should be spread over eleven years — the unexpired term of the 

 lease — any sum to be received at its termination for the 

 machinery being considered as equivalent to the compound 

 interest on the expenditure. 



