116 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



Perhaps there is no other business in this country in 

 which so little is known of its financial condition as that 

 of the ordinary farm. Often farmers may set down 

 the sums they pay out and those they receive, but the 

 number is not great. Bookkeeping is an exact science 

 and the average farmer does not understand its first 

 rudiments. He does not know how much it takes to 

 keep a horse a year nor the value of the food which has 

 prepared his hog for market. The household supplies, 

 clothing, and luxuries are not reckoned in the year's 

 balance sheets. He often does not know how much he 

 owes, and can give little help to the assessor who makes 

 a list of his possessions for taxation. The comparative 

 cost of the various crops he grows is an uncut page in 

 his book of knowledge. He only knows his father grew 

 these crops and they have come down to him as a part of 

 his heredity. In the public schools which he may have 

 attended for a few years, bookkeeping was no part of his 

 arithmetic. Yet what more interesting way of teach- 

 ing arithmetic than by the practice of the simple princi- 

 ples of keeping accounts? Inasmuch as a large ma- 

 jority of our farmers do not go beyond the " common 

 school," it would be the part of wisdom in our school 

 authorities to make this study one of chief importance. 

 It is useless to attempt to introduce on our farms the 

 principles of efficiency, so long as we are ignorant of the 

 fundamental data of the farm's expenses and receipts. 

 I have already attested to the desirability of the pay- 

 ment of all bills by check. I assume that on the stub 

 of each check is entered the purpose of the payment. 

 In the case of bills at stores and elsewhere the receipted 

 payment should be attached to the canceled check when 

 it is received from the bank. The farmer in all cases 

 when he wishes to look up a past transaction will find 



