732 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



4520. 



Stock Account, 



4521. The account books for a common farmer, may be a cash-book for all receipts and 

 payments, specifying each ; a ledger for accounts with dealers and tradesmen ; and a stock 

 book for taking an inventory and valuation of stock, prop, manures, tillages, (and every 

 thing that a tenant could dispose of or be paid for on quitting his farm) once a year. Farm- 

 ing may be carried on with the greatest accuracy and safety, as to money matters, by 

 Vneiifts of the above books, and a few pocket memorandum books for laborers' time, jobs, 

 Sec. With the exception of a time-book, such as we have before described (3140. j, we 

 should never require more, even from a proprietor's bailiff; to many of whom the nine 

 forms just given (4512. ) would only puzzle ; to some we have known them lead to the 

 greatest errors and confusion. No form of books, or mode of procedure, will enable a 

 farmer to know whether he is losing or gaining but that of taking stock. Valuing pro- 

 duce consumed, and crediting the farm with it, is in practice nonsense ; and the same 

 may be said of various items in most of these nine forms. An approximation to the profits 

 yielded by particular crops or modes of management, may always be made by the farmer 

 or bailiff from recollection. There can never be a field on the farm, which he cannot at 

 the' time of reaping the crop, tell how often it has been ploughed ; when manured, 

 what the seed was worth, &c. ; and from these arid the other usual data, he can easily make 

 out a Dr. and Cr. account, sufficient for all practical purposes. 



Sect. II. Management of Servants. 



4522, Ih order that servants may he able and mlling to do their ivork, it is necessary that 

 ihey be well fed, comfortably lodged, and decently clothed. The last requisite may be 



