96 The Farmer's Business Handbook 



and sowing of the cover-crop to the investment 

 account, in the second column. This may not 

 be a perfect division of the expenses incurred for 

 maintaining the fertility of the orchard and for 

 producing the interval crop, but if one-half of 

 the expense of fertilizers and cover-crops be 

 charged to interval crop and one-half to invest- 

 ment, it will complicate the accounts and prob- 

 ably be no more accurate. 



In the account with the forcing-house and with 

 the orchard it may be most convenient to record 

 all the accounts, except the labor account, daily 

 in the ledger, thus avoiding posting. At the end 

 of the month the work report or reports are 

 footed and the amounts posted to the ledger on 

 the debit side. By this method the day-book is 

 dispensed with. The ledger, to all intents and 

 purposes, becomes the journal. In the accounts 

 set forth in the preceding chapters the journal 

 has been dispensed with; here we dispense with 

 both ledger and day-book. At the end of each 

 month the debits and credits should be added 

 and the totals placed at the foot of the columns. 

 This will show, month by month, the amount of 

 the running expenses and the income, and give 

 timely and valuable information as to the monthly 

 financial standing of the undertaking. In these 

 tentative accounts it may be more convenient for 

 the farmer to keep single -entry than double -entry. 



