254 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



credit items separately and deduct the lesser total 

 from the greater. Enter the difference on the debit 

 or credit side of the balance sheet according to which 

 it belongs. Continue footing up the successive accounts 

 and place their debit or credit balances on the cor- 

 responding sides of the balance sheet. Accounts 

 which balance may be omitted from the sheet. Add the 

 two sides of the balance sheet separately. If the tot- 

 als are alike the accounts have been properly posted 

 from the Journal to the Ledger. 



Turning now to any account the poultryman can as- 

 certain its standing and know just where his funds 

 are held. 



SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS. 



In keeping the books of the poultry plant, however 

 frequently the separate accounts may be balanced or 

 a trial balance taken, there is customarily an invent- 

 orying and balancing at the end of the year which in- 

 cludes the complete accounts of the business. 



In the annual closing of the books due attention 

 should be given to the expense of taxes and insurance, 

 mortality of stock, and depreciation in value of build- 

 ings, fences, tools etc. Some of these items, being de- 

 finitely known, will have been recorded when they 

 occurred. Others may have to be estimated 



New buildings, machines, appliances, vehicles and 

 young horses may, however, show little if any de- 

 preciation in condition or value for several years and 

 then, perhaps, suddenly lose greatly in value or be- 

 come useless and therefore valueless. In the invent- 

 ory and accounts it is possible to distribute the de- 

 preciation over a series of years by what is termed 

 amortization. The buildings etc. are inventoried at 

 cost and the account debited yearly with a given per 

 cent, of the cost for depreciatiaon. For example it is 

 fair to fix the average period of effective usefulness of 

 tools and machines at ten years, in which case the ac- 

 count is debited annually with one-tenth (ten percent.) 

 of the cost of the article. If we allow twenty years 



