NOTES AND ACCOUNTS 43 



Comparison over a number of years is thus possible, and is 

 very interesting. But such a diary must not be expected 

 to take the place of the school note-book. 



In the school note-book, or in a separate one, should be 

 kept the accounts. These are plainly necessary if the garden 

 is a " commercial" one ; that is, if its products are to be sold. 

 Accounts are also evidently worth while for a vegetable 

 gardener who supplies his family without selling anything to 

 others. But even a flower gardener, whose chief gain is in 

 pleasure, ought to keep accounts in order to know the cost 

 of the work and to see where it can be lessened. A study of 

 the accounts at the end of the year, or even from month to 

 month, will show leakages and little extravagances which 

 can be stopped. 



The accounts should be properly kept on pages ruled for the 

 purpose. Most important are the journal or day-book 

 pages, on which, on the right-hand page or column, is set 

 down each item of expense. The cost of seed, bulbs, and 

 plants (and here also the amounts and dealer should be set 

 down), of tools, fertilizer, and manure, and also of hired 

 labor, naturally occur to any one as proper to put in the 

 account book. But an important item should not be for- 

 gotten : the gardener's own labor. It has its value per hour 

 as well as has paid labor. Early, therefore, the boy or girl 

 should calculate what that value is. It may be that the value 

 has already been set in a town by the customary wages of 

 strawberry-pickers, or that a certain amount per hour is 

 known as proper pay for weeding or "choring" wages. In 

 such a case the gardener can be sure how much he can charge 

 for his time. But if there is no such town wage-scale for a 

 boy or girl, there is surely one for a man. So many cents 

 per hour is paid for skilled labor, and somewhat less for un- 

 skilled. The garden beginner is of course unskilled, and 



