954 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



desirable to remember, with prices, dates, etc.; the records here to be sufficiently full to 

 become, in a measure, a reference book from which the memory may be refreshed with 

 regard to the principal data of the farm and household. It should be, in fact, the history of 

 the work of the farm and the business life of the farmer. Making a note of the weather each 

 day, and such items of interest as the receiving of friends by the family, or the leaving home 

 of any member of the household, will also make it frequently valuable for reference. 



Day-Book. In this should be recorded each day, with dates and prices, everything 

 spent for the benefit of the farm, which should be charged to it as debtor to that amount; 

 while everything sold from the farm, being produced by it, should be credited to it. This 

 book, for the average farmer, should contain from 250 to 300 pages, the pages to be ruled on 

 the left in order to record the number of the page of the ledger to which the account is 

 transferred; also two double columns on the right for dollars and cents. The usual method 

 is to keep the debit account on the left hand page, and the credit account on the opposite 

 (right hand) page. In this manner an accurate account may be kept with different fields or 

 animals, if desired, as well as with individuals and farms. A field, for instance, would be 

 debtor (Dr.) to the use of the land, the expense of the manure, tillage, seed, cultivation, 

 harvesting, preparing for market, and marketing, or delivery at the place desired; and 

 creditor (Cr.) by the amount of money received for that portion of the crop sold and the 

 value of that which is used on the farm or in the household. A cow would be Dr. to her 

 original cost, the interest on the money invested, and the expense of her keeping, and Cr. by 

 the value of her milk and calves; a sheep Dr. to first cost, and interest on the money invested, 

 and keeping, and Cr. by the lambs and wool, manure furnished, etc. When either page is 

 filled, both should be added, and the different amounts placed at the bottom, when new 

 charges and credits should be commenced on the next two pages. 



The more accurate such accounts can be made, the more definitely will the figures, on 

 balancing the account, show the real condition of the business. An able authority on the 

 subject of keeping farm accounts says: &quot; Sometimes we see accounts, even in agricultural 

 reports, in which everything a farmer raises is set down at the market value. For instance, 

 credit is given for the number of tons of hay, the number of bushels of corn and potatoes, 

 and everything that is raised, without a corresponding debit of what is used in keeping the 

 stock through the year making it appear as if the net income was very large, when, in 

 reality, nearly all is used upon the place. A farmer may, perhaps, plow large jields that have 

 been previously manured, and, without applying any fertilizer, obtain a good crop, which, 

 when sold, brings in a large sum of money. He may decide that his profits are large; but a 

 system of book-keeping that estimates the value of the land of each field, each year, would 

 oblige him to appraise the fields from which his large crops were taken as of less value than 

 before. This would show him that the profits were not really as large as he at first supposed. 

 Another might spend a good deal of time and money in making improvements, which, for 

 the present, bring in no profit, and it might seem that nothing was made by farming; yet an 

 account of what his improvements cost, and of all that the land (on which the improvements 

 were made) produced for several years, would change his mind. Thus, by carrying out a 

 system of book-keeping which not only applies to the farm as a whole, but also to easch 

 operation in detail, a very large fund of practical knowledge would be obtained in a few 

 years. If each farmer in our nation would thus estimate the expenses of his business, our 

 practical knowledge of the value of agricultural products would be increased, and the amount 

 of productions in the country be vastly enlarged.&quot; 



Ledger. Whatever system of keeping accounts is followed in the day-book, a ledger 

 should be kept, since it will be a great convenience in representing at a glance the real status 

 of the business, the results of the transactions recorded in the day-book being transferred to 

 its pages. Thus are brought together in a compact form all the transactions which may be 

 had with a single individual, being collected from the various pages of the day-book per 

 haps representing several months of time and arranged in a systematic manner. The ledger 

 should be so ruled that the Dr. and Cr. accounts with a person can be kept on a single page, 

 the Dr. occupying the left hand side and the credit the right, thus showing at a glance the 

 state of the business affairs; thus, if we transact business with A, and the Dr. side of the 

 ledger exceeds the Cr., showing that A owes us more than we trust him, the balance is so 

 much in our favor; but if it shows that the Cr. side exceeds the Dr., then we owe him more 

 than he trusts us, and the balance is in his favor. 



Every six or twelve months all the accounts in the ledger should be balanced by adding 



