HOW TO KEEP FARM ACCOUNTS. 



and ten are used for the April cash, eleven and twelve will be set 

 aside for memoranda which ought to include all events worth 

 putting on record. By this method if you were not at home and 

 John Jones got a load of hay, those in charge in your absence 

 would turn to the memoranda page for whatever month it hap- 

 pened to be and write, if in April, on page eleven: "John Jones, 

 Hay 2640 lbs." On your return, you would naturally turn to the 

 books and finding this entry, write it on the Cash Account proper 

 for that day and month as it should be, according to whether it 

 was a cash or time transaction. 



10. RED INK IN THE LEDGER.— Books, of course, can 

 be kept as accurately' without the use of red ink rulings and en- 

 tries to balance accounts as they can with them, and many book- 

 keepers claim its use should be relegated to that chapter in the 

 ancient history of accounting when all cash transactions were 

 journalized. But most bookkeepers continue to use it and the il- 

 lustration given herein makes use of it. A word or two as to 

 what these red ink entries mean will not be out of place. 



First turn to the Cash Account for April (plate 9). Footing 

 up the entries in black, we find the debit side amounts to |425.00 

 more than the credit side, that is, we have |425.00 on band. Being 

 the end of the month and wishing to close the account to make it 

 balance we write on the credit side, in red ink, "Balance 1425.00 

 (See item eg.)" When we write this, we really agree to enter, as 

 soon as the account is ruled and closed, on the debit or opposite 

 side, the amount we have on hand in black ink. Compare item eg 

 on plate 9 with item da on plate 12 and you will see just what is 

 meant. You will also note that this occurs every time we balance 

 the Cash Account, whether daily, weekly or monthly. 



If you will now turn to the Ledger accounts you will see that 

 the red ink entries made there to balance, carry forward or close 

 an account at the end of the year never affect its balance because 

 Tou agree when you balance, carry forward or dose an ac- 

 count, that you will bring down or carry forward all red ink 

 entries to the opposite side of the Ledger in black ink. Hence, 

 the balance of the Ledger is not changed, the red ink simply serv- 

 ing to show that such an account has been balanced, carried for- 



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