NOTES AND ACCOUNTS 45 



ing). Only thus can one really see where the money has 

 gone, and decide whether too much has been spent under any 

 one heading. The headings of receipts should also be 

 classified. 



This is the usual method of book-keeping. But recently a 

 simpler method has been used by bookkeepers, and the state 

 of Massachusetts, in one of its bulletins, recommends its 

 application to farm accounts. By this system are used 

 pages with many parallel columns. Each item, of money 

 received or money spent, is entered immediately twice on the 

 same page, once in a general column of receipts or expenses, 

 once in the particular column in which it belongs. Thus 

 fifty cents spent for a hoe will be entered first in the column 

 with all other money spent, and second in the column for 

 tools. By this method the ledger is posted daily, time is 

 saved, and all accounts are in the same book. 



Careful study of the ledger account should readily show 

 whether proper economy has been used, or whether in another 

 year the gardener should be more careful. The proper way 

 in which to account for tools, fencing, long-lived plants such 

 as shrubs or peonies, anything which is permanent or nearly 

 so, is to start a separate account, called the Equipment Ac- 

 count. In this the first cost is charged, while in the yearly 

 account should be charged only a fraction of it. It is fair, I 

 think, to expect a tool or a shrub to last for ten years, and 

 therefore to charge in each year's account a tenth of the cost. 

 Thus the cost is distributed, and thus the profits or the 

 loss do not appear too large. If the tool breaks, or the 

 plant dies, before the ten years are up, it seems fair to con- 

 clude that poor goods were bought, or that proper care was 

 not taken, and to remember the lesson. 



It may be objected that account books ruled with so many 

 columns are not always to be found. Let any one, then, rule 



