AGRICULTURE. 



ral observation are of no utility, or de- 

 ceive rather than inform. The difficulty 

 of keeping accounts, which, however 

 commonly neglected, it is allowed never 

 ought to be so, is certainly not inconsi- 

 derable. The mode must often be regu- 

 lated by the nature of the farm. The 

 possessor of open fields, where scraps of 

 land belonging to others are intermingled 

 with his own, can, with extreme difficul- 

 ty only, keep an account of every part, 

 which, however, it is justly thought of 

 the first importance to do in general, as 

 the knowledge of what every field has 

 paid, in certain circumstances, is the only 

 basis for correct decision on its applica- 

 tion. Small fields are from this, as well 

 as from other causes, extremely inconve- 

 nient. They are not only inconvenient in 

 preparation, and attended with much 

 loss in borders and ditches, but they de- 

 range the accuracy of accounts, if they 

 are not fully noticed, and occupy a great 

 portion of the time of the farmer, if they 

 are. When all the produce of several 

 fields is thrown together, which is far 

 from an uncommon case, some objects, 

 very interesting to be ascertained, must be 

 left entirely to conjecture ; and when a 

 comparison is made by guesses, the con- 

 clusion formed must be totally invalidated 

 as authority. The separation of crops 

 is therefore an important object, with a 

 view to accounts, and is essential, indeed, 

 to their beingkeptwith accuracy. For the 

 rent, tithes, and parochial rates, three se- 

 parate accounts thould be kept, but the 

 amount of all should be divided on every 

 field, for which an account should be 

 kept according to the real contents of it. 

 A distinction must be drawn between the 

 gross and net contents of the field; as, 

 otherwise, in the comparison of husban- 

 dry, that field might be concluded the 

 most advantageous, which had the least 

 border, and merely for that reason, the 

 cultivation practised in the other being, 

 in fact, more profitable. But detail on 

 this subject is here impracticable, and we 

 must be satisfied with observing that, 

 without correctness of data for a compa- 

 rison, the conclusions formed will consti- 

 tute only a catalogue of errors. The ar- 

 ticle of sundry expenses must universally 

 have place in a well regulated account, 

 and should include whatever payments 

 concern the farm in general, (and are not 

 included in any distinct article) and not 

 any object or field in particular. With 

 respect to the article of wear and tear, 

 the arable lands will swallow up by far 

 thejreater proportion of these expenses 



As they principal!}' attach to the team, 

 the proper mode of setting them down is, 

 after ascertaining them at so much per 

 pound on the team account, to charge 

 thus proportionally per acre. The land 

 appropriated for feeding grass will have 

 very little concern in them, and that for 

 mowing by no means much. To settle the 

 expense of the team work, the green food 

 for the teams in summer, the hay and 

 oats consumed, the shoeing and farrier- 

 ing, their real decline in value, the pay 

 for attendance, are each to be itemed 

 down separately ; and to apportion the 

 whole expense to the work executed by 

 them, a day-book must contain an account 

 of this work every day in the year, with a 

 specification of the field or business they 

 were engaged in. At the end of the year 

 a clear result may be obtained, by pro- 

 portionally divid.ng the amount of the 

 expense among the work. The article 

 manure should be arranged under the 

 head farm-yard, and is one of the most 

 complex and difficult. This account 

 should be charged with the price of the 

 straw used in the yard, at what it could 

 be sold for, deducting the carriage, 

 and it should be credited with the price 

 per week of keeping the cattle. All the 

 labour employed in turning over the 

 dung and cleaning the yard is charged to 

 this account. The total expense of the 

 dung, when carted to the land, is divided by 

 the number of loads, giving so much per 

 load : it should be charged the following 

 year on the lands on which it is spread, 

 although the benefit of it is not confined 

 to that single year: but keeping open the 

 account for a longertime would expose to 

 great and inextricable confusion. One of 

 the most complex of all accounts is that of 

 grass lands fed. To reduce the difficulty, 

 one account should be opened for mow- 

 ing ground, to which all expenses of rent, 

 tithe, taxes, &c. should be carried for 

 every field mown ; while its credit con- 

 sists of the value, at the market price of 

 all the mown produce, as delivered to the 

 cattle of any description . The after grass 

 on these fields must be estimated at a 

 certain sum per acre, and charged to the 

 account of feeding ground. To this ac- 

 count must be carried all the debits of the 

 fields fed, while the credit should consist 

 of all the food of the team, at a certain 

 weekly estimate ; and of any cattle taken 

 to joist. The account for sheep, dairy, 

 and fatting beasts, is each to be charged 

 its peculiar expenses ; wages, hurdles, 

 shepherd, &c. for the first ; fuel and straw, 

 &c. for tie second; and the purchase 



