THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



239 



Iinprovemeuts effected during the year are also put down to 

 curreut expeuditure — not capitalised. Such will, iu the ordi- 

 nary operations of a farmer, be fouud necessary in the way of 

 additional draining, or making up defects iu that already 

 executed, and in additions to, or alterations in, office-houses. 

 Theae ought to be done by the hindlord, but practically, during 

 the currency of a lease, they generally fall on the tenant. For 

 fluch, and for the improvement of the land by liming, it will be 

 Been that a charge of £65 per annum has been incurred. 



There remains to be noticed the valuation of live stock. 



Horses may in some sense be considered as part of the out- 

 fit of the farm, and might be classed as part of the " Capital 

 Account." But considering that, on the one hand, deteriora- 

 tion by age necessarily does occur, and that considerable dete- 

 rioration may take place from accident or disease; and, ou the 

 other hand, that by rearing young horses the value may in- 

 crease, instead of diminishing, from year to year, irrespective 

 of purchases made, it becomes necessary to re-value them at 

 stock-taking, in the usual way, before striking a balance. 



In regard to the other descriptions of live stock, there can, 

 of course, be no question as to that being the plan to be fol- 

 lowed. In affixing a value to the live stock, every care has 

 been taken to arrive at a fair value ; and as the foregoing 

 accounts were made up for private use, and not for publica- 

 tion, there could be no object but to make them as accurate in 

 this respect as the judgment of the writer would allow, without 

 calling in the assistance of others. When the valuation is 

 made, he has as clearly in his view the profit-and-loss account 

 of the crop growing as of that closing, and hence the scales are 

 held equal. In the employment of valuators the same know- 

 ledge of the stock, its capabilities or antecedents, could not be 

 expected — the same individual could not always be secured, 

 aud difference of judgment, caprice, or inattention, might occa- 

 sion discrepancies iu valuation which would be very embar- 

 rassing to one keeping accounts, as has here been done, not 

 with a view to publication, but for his own information and 

 guidanre. 



It is, doubtless, somewhat bold in a tenant-farmer, of whose 

 lease a considerable portion has expired, thus to come forward 

 with not only the statistics of his occup?»ncy, but also with 

 full details of its money results. I believe, however, that by 

 the close and jealous reserve generally observed by those of my 

 profession in this last respect, a great deal of misapprehension 

 is occasioned. I believe that landowners are more disposed 

 to over-estimate than to under-estimate the profits of farming. 

 The figures given above can do no harm in our relations with 

 them ; they show, as will be seen hereafter, but a very mode- 

 rate per-centage on capital invested. Again, tenant-farmers, 

 from the want of keeping accounts, are apt to nndcr-estimate 

 their profits. Because the " balance in the banker's" is not 

 increased from year to year they are apt to conclude and to 

 assert that " farming is a losing business," although in the 

 mean time their personal and household expenses have been 

 defrayed, and in most, cases a progressive improvement has 

 gone on in the value of their stock and condition of their 

 occupancies. 



But it may be said that I have not given a fair view of the 

 results obtained by myself, and therefore no correct data for 

 estimating those of others, from having selected as my years 

 of exposition two in which bad harvests were experienced. 

 But here there were compensating influences at work. " Ne- 

 cessity is," proverbially, " the mother of invention ;" and the 

 urgency of rent-day, aud labour and manure-bills, causes ex- 

 pedients to be resorted to, which, in more prosperous times, 

 would not be thought of, or, if thought of, put aside as 

 " troublesome." Thus, sprouted grain may put pigs more 

 forward in the balance-sheet than they would otherwise have 

 been ; damaged straw may cause the opinion that cattle will 

 not make much of the turnips to be piven in connection with 

 it, and these turnips piay be turned to an account in raising 

 turnip-seed, which tells in the balance-sheet, and at the fac- 

 tor's audit ; a failure in the potato crop may make a particular 

 variety, which has comparatively escaped, a matter of profit 

 from seed demitid, considerably beyond the ordinary rate. So 

 important were those influences in the years reported on, that 

 I believe I would not be safe in calculating for future crops — 

 exempt from harvest disasters and potato failure — a much 

 larger balance to the credit of the profitaud-loss account than 

 has been given above ; a balance which, as already stated, 

 will be fouud a very moderate return on capital invested. 



This brings rae to consider at what that capitnl should bo 

 stated. Here I am free to confess that I experience much 

 difficulty. As will be understood from a description of the 

 land I occupy, to be given hereafter, a large proportion of it 

 was entered upon when it was iu the very lowest state of ex- 

 haustion. Much work, in the shape of permanent improve- 

 ment, was executed in the way of draining, budding office- 

 houses, &c. Thus it was at least a full rotation before the land 

 was even in fair working order. During this period the " capi- 

 tal account" could not, of course, be closed ; and when these 

 derangements were put right, aud fair working condition 

 arrived at, the intricate question presents itself, " When profit 

 ou capital should commence to be computed ?" If from the 

 beginning of the investment or adventure, profit were to be 

 added to capital, then too heavy an enhancement would be 

 made of the " Capital Account." Moreover, impartial recon- 

 sideration of past expenditure might show that a good share 

 of it was chargeable rather to " inexperience"' than to " capi- 

 tal." To disentangle these two items would be a task puzzling 

 to the best farmer-accountant, and I shall not undertake it. 

 I believe that a fair valuation of the farming investment, as it 

 now (October, 1858) stands, is the most correct view -of the 

 " Capital Account" on which profit is computable ; and I may 

 add that, assuming the following to be a correct view of the 

 immediately available value of the investment— which I believe 

 it to be— the investment has, on the whole, turned out very ■ 

 fairly as to the paat. 



Estimate of Farm Valuation, October, 1838. 



Live stock as at Ist June, 1858 £897 10 



Increased value thereof, from pasturage to date 1 00 



Implements aud Kill macliinery 400 



120 acres corn crop, average per acre £8 960 



25 acres potatoes and winter beans, per acre £15 375 



6 acres mangold, per a'-re £10 60 



42 acres swede aud yellow turnips, per acre £3.. 336 



12 acres turnip seed, contract 200 



Hay Stacks, 30 tons £3 90 



£3418 10 

 This is au "above-ground" valuation. An "under-ground" 

 valuation of unexhausted manures and improvements might be 

 entered upon; bat it would be at the best but suppositive, 

 and dependent on unknown conditions of prices. I shall 

 therefore not add it to capital ; though assuredly I would not 

 part with it at less than one thousand pounds. 



Assuming, therefore, that the "Capital Account" stands 

 at the above sum of £3,418 lOs., the profit for two years 

 appearing as £548 16s. 2d.— t. e. £274 Ss. Id. per annum— I 

 have au auuual return for superintendence, risk, and interest, 

 of eight per cent. 



This is not equal to the profit expected on capital employed 

 in mercantile transactions, where 10 per cent, is calculated 

 upon as the fair return upon capital invested. But a farmer 

 is engaged in what has well been termed by the wise and great 

 Washington " the most healthful, the most useful, and the 

 moat noble employment of man ;" he should, therefore, be 

 satisfied with a less annual return upon his capital than is 

 reaped (or expected to be reaped) by his friend who, " in 

 populous cities pent," passes his anxious days in the whirl of 

 commerce. He has, moreover, this to counterbalance his more 

 moderate profits, that he has a bouse and garden rent free, 

 and also a horse and vehicle, which, occasionally employed as 

 part of his business outfit, is at all times a matter of personal 

 and family accommodation, which, to commercial cljsses, it 

 would cost a portion of their " profits from trade" to obtain. 



Description of the Farm. 



It lies on the eastern side of Scotland, in the valley of 

 the Beauly Frith, and on the confines of the counties of 

 Inverness and Ross. 



It consists of two separate holdings, of the respective 

 sizes of 180 and 119 acres. They are both held under car- 

 rent leases of 19 years' duration. They are situated at 

 rather more than two miles' distance from each other, and 

 have separate steadings and resident servants; but are 

 practically worked as one farm. Horses and servants are 

 transferred between them as the arrangement of work may 

 require ; stock also, as the consumption of grass and winter 

 food may determine. * 



There are advantages, and also disadvantages, connected 



B 2 



