HOIV TO KEEP FARM ACCOUNTS. 



If s a common sajlng that no two men keep their books alike. 

 But the difference if any, comes from the individual, his business 

 and the details necessary to be shown. The matter that jroes into 

 the Farm Ledger will depend on the farmer liimself. It will be 

 mtich or little as he may decide. However, let him beware lest 

 his books begun in the flood tide of enthusiasm, when work is slack 

 and evenings long, be not too full of unimportant detail. They 

 are then almost sure to be neglected when the busy days come 

 later on. It is much better to begin a simple account and keep it 

 accurately than to attempt too much. Think of your busiest days, 

 not those in which you have the least to do. 



4. THE COST OF PRODUCTION.— Notwithstanding the 

 farmstead with its full c()m])lemeut of live-stock, implements and 

 buildings can be likened to a "plant" of the manufacturer, and al- 

 though the farm is a factory to all intents and purposes, it is 

 questionable whether the j)ractice of cost or departmental ac- 

 counting is practical on the average farm. On this point there 

 may be a difference of o])iuion, but on the average farm one who 

 would attempt to keep an accurate account with either fields, 

 crops or kinds of stock would have his hands so full during the 

 busy season, that, nine times out of ten, tiie accounts would be 

 neglected and thought too troublesome to continue. For this rea- 

 son, most farmers should treat their accounts with the farm as a 

 whole — rather than to open an account with each field, with their 

 hogs, their sheep, their cattle, etc. It is true that accurate cost- 

 accounting is a necessity in the factory. The manufacturer must 

 know what it costs to make and put his products on the market, 

 but is it so all-important to the farmer? In nearly every rotation 

 there are certain crops necessary to keep uj) the farm fertility that 

 can't be accurately set down in figures. The results from the 

 farmstead as a whole, eventually, is of the most importance. And 

 the practical farmer, if he cares to know, can take his pencil, and 

 come as near as is necessary to figuring the cost of growing an acre 

 of corn, or what his cattle or sheep net him. Therefore, don't draw 

 the lines so fine in actual practice that your resolve to keep ac- 

 counts will have died "a bornin;" but reniiembor. that the cost of 

 production of farm products depends so much on the elements 



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