370 



Jmirnal of Agriculture., Victoria. [10 June, 1916 



connexion with your fowls. A ledger will show how the businesss stands 

 from month to month, and in connexion with an egg record, will tell 

 you how the stock are producing. A diary will also be very useful for 

 writing down the doings of each day, and must form a very valuable 

 book of reference for the owner of the farm. 



It does seem strange that so many poultry-keepers do not keep full 

 and correct accounts of their business. If this system were regularly 

 practised, I venture tO' say that the poultry industry would be much 

 improved. If poultry-keepers want to know if their stock is paying, if 

 they want to know when a change of breeding birds is necessary, if they 

 want to know anything certain about the business, the only reliable 

 method is to adopt a system and keep books. Four books will be quite 

 sufficient. A cash-book, a ledger, an egg-reoord book, and a diary will 

 be required, and if kept properly the poultry-keeper will certainly admit 

 that the system is well worth the extra trouble entailed. 



Key to Success. 



The cash-book will show you exactly the amount of business you did 

 on every day of the previous year, also the price of the food purchased. 

 The price of buildings, as well as many other items of interest will be in 

 the cash-book for reference, and its value is only known to those who 

 have given it a trial. The ledger will give you full particulars of the 

 rece'pts and expenditure for the past year, and will show you whether 

 your business has been a success. The egg-record book will indicate with 

 certainty the quantity of eggs produced by birds from the different pens, 

 the time when they commenced laying, the birds which contracted 

 broodiness, and a great deal of other essential information. The diary 

 is one of the most useful books in the set. It is a daily record of all 

 that happens in connexion with the business you are engaged in, show- 

 ing a complete record of what takes place every day. As a book of refer- 

 ence it is invaluable, and for this reason alone no poultry-keeper should 

 be without a dairy kept on up-to-date lines. The adoption of a system 



