Farm Accounts. 135 



first the amount of tillages, as valued at the beginning of the year ; 

 next the value of the seed-corn deposited in it, and every expense 

 both of manual and horse-labour, &c. &c ; the amount of rent, 

 rates, and taxes. The contra will show the value of crop raised, 

 and the acts of tillage performed for the benefit of the next year. 



Now all this looks exceedingly well on paper if you have a 

 clerk to do nothing else ; but, beyond appearances, it is, I con- 

 tend, of little value. Nay, I positively believe that such accounts 

 will very frequently confuse rather than enlighten, and by giving 

 false returns tend to injure the judgment. If you really could do 

 any series of operations solely for the benefit of one crop or one 

 year, then this plan of accounts would be more feasible ; but a 

 judicious system of management always presupposes a certain 

 rotation of crops, and in this rotation one crop is so connected 

 with another, and the work or money expended in one year is so 

 beneficial to a crop or two beyond, that it is impossible to say 

 how much of the value of labour is to be charged to the present 

 year. 



Take the turnip-fallow, for example. Very often, if this be 

 foul, it will cost 4/. to 5/., or even 6/. an acre to produce a crop of 

 roots, the same roots being worth for consumption on the ground 

 from 3/. to 4/. Is the turnip-crop to be charged with the whole of 

 this large expenditure ? Certainly not, if we aim at accuracy ; 

 and yet how much ought it to bear, and how is the remainder to 

 be divided amongst the succeeding crops? It is clear to me that 

 we must take our management as a whole, and throw the expenses 

 over the rotation and compare with the produce ; and therefore, 

 instead of having a complicated system of double entry, which 

 involves much useless work, I would keep the accounts as simply 

 as described, but at the same time have such a Labour Journal 

 that it would be perfectly easy, if thought desirable at any time,^ 

 to ascertain the cost of any particular crop or experiment that 

 might be going on. 



To show more clearly the complication of farm accounts kept 

 solely by double entry, 1 would refer to a horse-account, as it 

 would be kept by Lord Meath's system of accounts. 



These accounts were made public in a lecture before the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of Ireland by Mr. Hamilton, some three 

 years ago. The account is for farm-horses. On the Dr. side are 

 columns for oats, barley, beans, hay, straw, potatoes, parsnips, 

 carrots, and other food-produce of the farm, food from the store- 

 room or purchased food, and every other expense ; whilst the Cr. 

 side is made up of the quantity of work done by horses in the 

 different fields throughout the year. 



Now, in order for this account to be of the least value, every 

 article consumed by the horses must be accurately valued or 



