TIIIRTERNTH ANXVAL M RET INC. 73 



few years, with its area and w^hat seemed to me desirable to 

 do with it. All this memoranda should be carefully dated, for 

 the time element in all farming operations is of the utmost 

 importance. At one time I might suppose that a particular 

 field would grow corn best next year, but as the season went 

 on, the physical condition of the soil and its plant growth 

 might lead me to believe that it was not suitable for corn the 

 coming year, or the conditions elsewhere might make it desir- 

 able that it should be planted with other crops in order to 

 balance the work of the farm as a whole. Whenever I changed 

 the crop upon a field I made a new plan for it, on which 1 

 made the records as to the times the different work was done 

 in that lot, and the different materials, such as fertilizers, seeds, 

 etc. used, and where they were obtained, and their cost. Also, 

 at the time of the gathering of the crop, I made on this plan 

 the record, not only of when it was harvested but the quantity 

 that was taken from the field, giving me the data necessarv to 

 compute the profit or loss of the field. 



I speak of this experience of mine to show how easily and 

 rapidly it can be done without outside help, and without the 

 paraphernalia of a surveyor's and draftsman's outfit, and the 

 result is reasonably correct. The method is correct, but errors 

 which come in from not walking in a straight line, going up 

 hill and down vale and the variations in the length of the step 

 would be a source of annoyance to a surveyor, but the errors 

 are not so great as to trouble the farmer in the drawing out 

 of the memoranda taken outdoors. P'or paper for these plans 

 I used the common wrapping paper of the tradesman, eighteen 

 by twenty- four inches in size. This paper is not thick and 

 very cheap, only a few cents. a quire, and does not take up 

 much room to store, and the size is one that is comfortable to 

 use on a common table. For tools, I had a two-foot carpenter's 

 rule and a soft lead pencil. 



The advantages of these numerous and frequently made plans 

 are not confined to the increased ease in calculations, but in 

 doing the work one's self it gives a wonderful increased know- 

 ledge of the farm itself, and what it has done and what it can 

 do. It leads to a separation of the farm work in the farmer's 

 mind, and leads him to give to each part a more satisfactory 

 proportion, both as to the place it occupies and the time it takes, 



