THE NEW FORESTRY. 69 



they are presented. Every practical man knows that such 

 red-tape systems of book-keeping in every department of an 

 estate are a farce and a waste of time. Men's time and work 

 have often to be kept by subordinates, and it has too often 

 been found that, when a man is expected to give account of 

 every hour that he may have spent doing one job here and 

 another there, he usually does his book-keeping quietly at the 

 end of the week, distributing his time over the separate heads 

 by guess, as judiciously as he can, the forester seldom ( being 

 able to find out whether he is right or wrong. Complete 

 accounts should be kept at the estate office, and the books that 

 the forester requires are a labour and sundries book, in which 

 the day labour, contract work, accounts against the woods, and 

 all incidental expenses should be entered under their separate 

 headings in due course. Other books are a day book for all 

 credit transactions connected with the woods, and a cash book 

 in which all receipts and payments are balanced up periodically. 

 On some estates the attempt is made to keep a separate 

 debtor and creditor account of every separate plantation, but 

 that is not practicable when there are numerous small and 

 large woods. The different woods may be divided into groups 

 or divisions, corresponding with the woods register, and a 

 separate account kept of each group ; but more need not be 

 attempted, and the men's time and labour account should be 

 as simple as it can be made, and not be encumbered with 

 useless entries. 



