The Value of the Farm 13 



While these inventories and summaries made at 

 the beginning and the end of the year are of great 

 value, they do not show whence the profits were 

 derived — that is, whether secured from teams, 

 live stock or wheat field. In the next chapter 

 forms are given for more detailed accounts, with 

 the view of determining, so far as possible, the 

 exact sources of all profits and losses. 



There is one other factor to be considered — 

 the depreciation or increase in the value of the 

 farm. In the above inventory, taken at the end 

 of the year, this factor has not been noted, but 

 it is not uncommon for the value of a farm to 

 change somewhat even in a single year. There 

 may have been a decrease not only in the selling 

 price of the farm, but in its real value, as meas- 

 ured by the profits. But usually the fluctuations 

 of farm values are not likely to be large in any 

 one year. An increase in value may be due to 

 some unusual betterment, as the erecting of a 

 building or the thorough draining of a wet field ; 

 or an account may have to be taken of ordinary 

 depreciation of buildings, fences, etc., or the farm, 

 as a whole, may be slightly less or slightly 

 more fertile than at the beginning of the year. 

 All of this must be left to the judgment of the 

 owner, but such judgment should be conservative. 



It is bad to deceive one's neighbor, but it is 

 infinitely more harmful to deceive oneself. In 



