25 



FARM. 



FARM. 



26 



whatever he laid by as a clear profit. But this calculation is no longer 

 applicable to the present state of agriculture. The expenses are 

 greatly increased, and the produce is also greater. It requires a 

 greater capital, and more skill to manage a large farm. The teuaut is 

 a man of more liberal education, and hi.-; habits are more expensive. 

 The occupier of 500 acres of land in England expects to live as well as 

 a laud-owner of 500^. a year income. He cultivates better by applying 

 more labour, and much of the produce is owing to his skill and his 

 capital. He therefore expects a greater share of the produce than the 

 landlord, not .only to repay his outlay, which is greater, but to live 



Up' 111. 



In Scotland, it is notorious that rents are much higher than in 

 England, not only for small occupations, but for extensive farms ; 

 and that the tenants have complained less of the times than their 

 neighbours in the south. It may be worth while to inquire into the 

 cause of this, for the low price of corn must affect the Scotch farmer 

 equally with the English. One great difference between the Scotch 

 aud the English farmer is, that the former gets work done at a cheaper 

 rate than the latter. The Scotch labourer is fully as well fed, and 

 clothed, and lodged, as the English ; but he has less money to spend at 

 the alehouse. He is paid, not in a certain sum every Saturday, but in 

 comforts, in the keep of a cow, in a certain number of rows of 

 potatoes, a certain quantity of grain, a cottage to live in, and oat- 

 meal to feed his family; and above all, as a general rule it must 

 be admitted that he is a man of greater intelligence. The horses 

 of a Scotch farmer are well fed ; they are always in good condition. 

 They work ten hours in a day at two yokings. All this is worth 25 

 pur cunt, on the whole labour of the farm, as Arthur Young has very 

 judiciously calculated, when he gives the expense of labour on the 

 farm of a gentleman, compared with that on the land of a farmer who 

 works with his men. (See ' Fanner's Guide.') The moral effect of an 

 interest in the work to be done, when opposed to that of a perfectly 

 distinct aud often hostile interest, will readily account for so great a 

 diflon 



But besides this the Scotch farmer his perhaps more commonly than 

 the English man the advantage of a scientific education, and of a 

 knowledge of the principles of his profession ; and with the shrewdness 

 peculiar to Ids country, he knows how to take advantage of every 

 i.iblc circumstance. He has also been taught to calculate, and 

 will soon discover where there is a profit or a loss. All this has kept 

 up rents to a much higher level than in England. 



The price of agricultural produce throughout Great Britain, and even 

 Ireland, is brought very nearly to an equality, the only difference being 

 occasioned by the means of transport. But the price of labour still 

 varies much, and this is owing to local circumstances, which it is hoped 

 will gradually cease. 



Farm Account!. In proportion as the management of a farm 



requires more skill, and the various operations become more coinpli- 



40 the necessity of great accuracy in the accounts becomes more 



evident. The manner in which farm accounts should be kept deserves 



then-fore particular attention. 



Many farmers, who are not devoid of intelligence, and who are 

 anxious to ascertain their gain or their loss in cultivating the land 

 which they have hired, have no other means of ascertaining this than 

 the balance of their account of receipts and expenditure. If they have 

 separated the accounts of their private establishment from that of 

 their farm, they think that they have done all that is required, and at 

 thu end of the year they can tell accurately how much they have gained 

 1 liy their farm. But ask them to account for this gain or loss, 

 and they can give no answer. If a tradesman, who has a capital in 

 business equal to that of a farmer of a considerable number of acres, 

 were to keep accounts hi this manner, and become a bankrupt, no one 

 would hesitate in saying that he failed because he kept no regular 

 accounts. He had no greater stake than the farmer, and his trans- 

 actions were perhaps less varied : if he kept no clerk, he should have 

 attended better to the accounts himself. The same may be said of the 

 farmer ; aud if a man who has a floating capital of 2000Z. does not 

 think it we M-t li his while to keep detailed account*!, it is no great wonder 

 if lit: is involved ill difficulties. But it may be said that agricultural 

 accounts are very simple, and that any one can keep them. So are 

 IIH reliant*' accounts at first sight. Nothing is simpler than to put 

 clown what is bought and sold, what is the profit on each transaction, 

 and the sum is th profit on the whole. But merchants know that to 

 keep this very simple account many books, many entries, many checks, 

 au<l consequently many clerks, are required. In a lesser degree this is 

 true in a farm. It is easy to know what is bought and sold; what is 

 expended or produced; but it requires very minute accounts to ascer- 

 tain what part of the farm gives a profitable return, and what is the 

 cause of loss. There may be a prolit on the crops and a loss on the 

 ntrvk, or rice nnfi. The money expended on improvements or adven- 

 titious manure may have produced an increase which is proportionate 

 to the outlay, ami which affords a good iuterest ; but it may also be a 

 '!' ' ided loss. How is this to be ascertained, except it be by accurate 

 accounts ? The expense of keeping accounts is much overrated. A 

 clerk who lias his board and SOI. a year is generally a young man who 

 has some education. He is useful in seeing that the operations ordered 

 by the farmer are duly executed. He is a trusty overseer, and, as he 

 ha his accounts in his thoughts, he is most likely to detect the cause 



of any loss, from a want of attention in subordinate ageuts ; his s.ilary 

 is therefore well earned, au I the farmer will not think it thrown away. 

 In whatever manner the accounts are kept, whether by the faruior 

 himself or by a clerk, method is of great importance : aud whatever 

 may be said against it by those who do not know its value, there is no 

 system of accounts which can be compared with the well-known method 

 of double entry, by which every account, and indeed every entry, is 

 effectually checked. [BooK-KKKPiNG.] The principle of this method 

 is so simple, that the slowest arithmetician cannot be confused by it, 

 and it is so perfect that no error can escape its scrutiny. As applied 

 to agricultural accounts, which are simple in their nature, it becomes 

 so clear, that if once adopted it is impossible that it should ever be 

 abandoned. The satisfaction of a perfect proof of the correctness of 

 the accounts is so great, that no one who has ever experienced it will 

 be satisfied with any other method. 



In the accounts of a farm there are many separate items to be taken 

 into consideration. There may be a separate account kept for every 

 field. There should always be one for every crop of which the rotation 

 consists. There is an account of the labour of men and horses ; of the 

 produce of the dairy ; of the stock purchased to be fatted, or sold 

 again in an improved state. In short the divisions of the general 

 account may be increased without limit. The more subjects there are 

 to furnish items for an account, the more difficult it is to strike a 

 balance, but, with a little attention and perseverance, it may be done ; 

 and he who keeps very correct accounts will always be the first to 

 discover any impending evil, and to take measures to provide 

 against it. 



The basis of all the accounts is a daily journal of every transaction, 

 which must be collected from all the labourers and agents employed. 

 M. de Dombasle, at his celebrated farm of Roville, in France, hail all 

 his principal servants and his apprentices assembled every evening 

 after the day's work was over. Each man gave an account of the 

 work done by him or under his superintendence, which was written 

 down by the clerk. The orders for the next day were then given, and 

 every one returned to his lodging or his home. In the course of the 

 next day the clerk entered all that was in the jourual into a book, 

 where every person employed had an account ; every field hud one ; 

 every servant and domestic animal had one; and every item which 

 could be separated from the rest was entered, both as adding to the 

 account or taking from it. For example, the milk of the cow w;us 

 entered daily. The quantity of butter, butter-milk, and skimined-milk, 

 which it produced was also entered ; aud these two accounts checked 

 one another. Any error was immediately detected, and the knowledge 

 of this prevented mistakes. An entry should be made of every par- 

 ticular operation in each field, that the farmer may know which is his 

 most profitable land. The number of ploughings, the quantity of 

 manure, the state of the weather, aud all other circumstances which 

 m.-iy influence the return should be carefully noted, iu order that it 

 may be clearly seen whether any experiment or deviation from the 

 usual routine is advantageous or otherwise. Thus all real improve- 

 ments may be encouraged, and uncertain theories detected by thu 

 result. 



The most important circumstance which influences the profits of a 

 farmer is the cost of his team and the wages of his labourers. Thesu 

 vary in different situations so much, that they greatly influence the 

 rent which he can afford to give for the laud. In some parts of the 

 country the horses are so pampered that they can scarcely do a day's 

 work as they ought. In others they are over-worked and badly fed. 

 Either extreme must be a loss to the farmer. In the first case, the 

 horses cannot do their work, and they consume an unnecessary quantity 

 of provender ; in the other, they are soon worn out, and the loss in 

 horses that become useless or die is greater than the saving in their 

 food, or the extra work done by them. A horse properly fed will work 

 eight or ten hours every day in the week, resting only on Sundays ; 

 by a judicious division of the labour of the horses, they are never 

 over-worked, and an average value of a day's work is easily ascertained. 

 This, in a well-regulated farm, will be found much less thau the common 

 valuations give it. It is here that most of the errors are to be detected 

 in the accounts of the expense of cultivation given in evidence before 

 parliament, without any intention to deceive iu those who gave the 

 accounts. There have been printed forms invented in order to render 

 the accounts more simple as well as more comprehensive. Forms may 

 be of use to enter minute details, and each superintendent labourer 

 may have a form of entry for the work which he performs or superin- 

 tends ; but the ledger should be kept exactly as that of a mercantile 

 man, and be frequently balanced to ensure correctness. This is a thing 

 which cannot be too strongly recommended to young farmers. 



When a farm has been agreed for as far as rent is concerned, there 

 are always conditions in a lease, which it is of great importance to the 

 farmer to understand fully. It is necessary that the landlord should 

 have some security against the wilful deterioration of his land by a 

 dishonest tenant, but agents are too apt to cramp the tenants by pre- 

 scribing the exact mode of cultivation without giving the tenant 

 sufficient scope to try improved methods, which may ultimately be 

 highly beneficial to all parties. If the landlord can ensure that his 

 land is in the hands of au intelligent tenant, and a man of principle as 

 well as skill, that will secure the application of the proper quantity of 

 manure, aud that it shall be well tilled and kept free from weeds, 



