HOW TO KEEP FARM ACCOUNTS. 



ery that has had good caip. It often happens that the old vou 

 liave will do as jjood or better Avork than the newer. You sec it 

 depends altogether on the "eve of the master," for 



' 'Ne who by the Plough would thrive 

 Must either hold himself or drive." 



8. THE FILING OF BUSINESS PAPERS.— And when you 

 are taking your inventory, some of the i)riees paid for the different 

 implements, for the harness or for some one of the many things 

 about the farm may have been forgotten. How are you to know 

 and get at the correct cost in such cases? Let "a place for every- 

 thing and everything in place" be your rule w-hen handling busi- 

 ness paper and correspondence. If this is practiced you would 

 only have to turn to your letter file and find the original cost of 

 any implement or the price paid for all feed instantly. A transfer 

 case with index can be bought at any stationers, at from 20 to 40 

 cents. In it can be tiled for instant reference, all letters, receipts, 

 expense bills (freight receipts) Bills of Lading, cancelled checks, 

 cancelled notes and all other papei" worth kecjiing for future con- 

 tingencies. Begin to tile all papers that jtcrtain to ihe business of 

 your farmstead. Put everything in black and white. Don't de 

 pend on memory or verbal contracts "for verlial contracts feed the 

 courts" and one of you may die. Keep your ledger right up to 

 date, and if the inevitable comes, as it must come some day. your 

 family will not be "betw-een tlie (\v\\\ and deep blue sea" but can 

 take hold of yoiir temporal accounts understandingly and conduct 

 the farm and settle your business affairs without litigation or 

 expense. 



9. "WiJAT ABOUT TRANSACTIONS THAT OCCUR 

 WHEN I'M NOT AT HOME?"— As explained in paragraph (5. the 

 book upon which a transaction is first recorded is the one to be 

 produced in evidence in cases of litigation. For this reason it is 

 good business practice to enter all transactions in the one book 

 you keep as a Ledger. As the transactions are not many any one 

 month, by leaving four pages for each month's Cash Account, or 

 forty-eight pages for the year, enough space will be left for all 

 transactions which are necessary to enter during the absence of 

 the owner, or whoever may take care of the books. If pages nine 



26 



