FARM MANAGEMENT 337 



boy or girl can, with little effort, keep a reasonably accurate 

 account of one or more of the leading enterprises on his 

 own farm. We will not try to give a complete system of 

 farm bookkeeping, as too much space and study would be 

 required, but we do wish to study with our readers some 

 of the problems of farm management affecting a few of the 

 more general enterprises of the average farm, and to show 

 the application of accounts and figures to farming as a 

 business, and the value of their use. 



Enterprises. — Some of the main enterprises on the gen- 

 eral farm are: Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, Poultry, Fruit, 

 Grain, Hay, or, in short, any of the various classes of prod- 

 ucts produced. If a farmer keeps only a cash account 

 showing the receipts from products sold and the amount 

 spent, while he might make a profit on the whole farm, he 

 might lose on sheep, hogs or some of the other enterprises, 

 and not know it. If he had an account with each enter- 

 prise, he would know on which he was losing and on which 

 he was making a profit, and could plan his future work so 

 as to increase the profitable lines and decrease or improve 

 the unprofitable ones. 



The Fanner as a Merchant. — The farmer buys and sells 

 products just as truly as the merchant. The way he buys 

 most of the products he sells is somewhat compUcated. 

 He seldom knows, without accounts, just how much any 

 particular thing, as a hog or bushel of grain, has cost him. 

 The cost of a product of the field to a farmer includes rent 

 on land, seed, man and horse labor in preparing the land, 

 seeding, cultivating, harvesting, machinery cost; also any 

 cash expenditure, as for twine, oil or threshing. The cost 

 of a live stock product includes labor, feed, shelter, interest 

 on investment and depreciation. It is not difficult to keep 

 a fairly accurate account of some leading enterprises, and 

 it gives a much better grasp of business than can be gotten 

 in any other way. 



Land Rent. — Land rent is one of the items of cost in 

 crop production that must be considered. This cost is 

 very evident if one does not own the land, but pays rent 

 for the use of it. If the farmer owns land himself he must 

 charge a fair rent per acre against each crop, because he 



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