862 



COSMOS 



COST-ACCOUNTING 



A. Rays white, pink or crimson: disk yellow. 



bipinnatus, Cav. Fig. 1077. Glabrous annual, 7-10 

 ft. high: Ivs. bipinnately cut, lobes linear, remote, 

 entire: involucral scales ovate-lanceolate, acuminate: 

 fls. white, pink or crimson : seeds smooth, with an abrupt 

 beak much shorter than the body. Mex. B.M. 1535. 

 Gn. 41:10. R.H. 1892:372. The older and com- 

 moner species. C. hybridiis, Hort., is presumably a 

 trade name for mixed varieties of C. bipinnatus, but 

 see G.F. 1:474 for note. 



AA. Rays yettow: disk yellow. 



sulphftreus, Cav. Fig. 1078. Pubescent, 4-7 ft. high, 

 much branched: Ivs. often 1 ft. or more long, 2- or 

 3-pinnately cut, lobes lanceolate, mucronate, with 

 rachis and midrib ciliate or hispid; pinnae alternate, 

 entire or 2-3-toothed: peduncles 7-10 in. long, naked: 

 outer involucral bracts 8, linear, acuminate, green, 2 

 lines long; inner ones 8, oblong, obtuse, scarious, 5 

 lines long; fls. 2-3 in. across, pale, pure or golden yel- 

 low; rays 8, broadly obovate, strongly 3-toothed at the 

 apex, ribbed beneath; anthers of the disk exserted, 

 black, with orange tips: seeds linear, 1 in. long, includ- 

 ing the slender beak. Mex. G.F. 8:485 (adapted in 

 Fig. 1078). Intro. 1896; parent of the yellow forms. 



AAA. Rays dark red: disk red. 



diversifolius, Otto (Bldens atrosangulnea, Ortg. B. 

 dahlioides, Wats. Dahlia Zimapanii, Roezl). BLACK 

 COSMOS. Tender annual, 12-16 in. high, with tubers 

 more slender, and requiring more care in winter than 

 those of common dahlias: Ivs. pinnately parted; Ifts. 

 6-7, entire or slightly serrate, the terminal Ifts. largest : 

 peduncles each bearing 1 head 6 in. or more above foli- 

 age; rays dark velvety red, sometimes tinged dark 

 purple. Mex. B.M. 5227. Gt. 1861:347. F.C. 2:47. 

 J.H. III. 33:403. Var. superba, Hort., is sold. Prop, 

 almost exclusively by seeds. WILHELM MILLER, f 



COSSIGNIA (Jos. Fr. Charpentier de Cossigny, 

 1730-1789, French naturalist). Sapindacese. Shrubs 

 or little trees of about 3 species, sometimes mentioned 

 for cult, in warmhouses. C. pinnata, Comm., of Mauri- 



1077. Cosmos bipinnatus. 



tius, has white fls. in terminal panicled corymbs, and 

 odd-pinnate Ivs., with 3-5 oblong and entire Ifts. 



COST-ACCOUNTING. The keeping of profit-and- 

 loss records, and the drawing of conclusions from them 

 for the improvement of the business. 



In recent years, the application of cost-accounting 

 and efficiency methods to farming operations has 

 opened practically a new approach to the discussion 

 of agricultural problems and is forcing a reorganization 

 in practices and in the sub-divisions of the business. 

 Careful and extended studies have not yet been 

 made of the efficiency principles in most horticultural 

 occupations; but the suggestions drawn from orchard 

 records may show the nature and scope of the work. 



Annual inventory. 



There is no single account that is more important 

 than the annual inventory. This inventory should list 

 the land and each important building separately. The 

 total value of these items should equal the value of the 

 farm. It should list each cow, horse and important 

 piece of machinery separately. All the cash, notes, 

 mortgages and accounts due the farmer should be 

 recorded with his property. A separate list should be 

 made of all notes, mortgages or accounts due to others. 

 The difference between these and the value of property 

 owned gives the net worth of the farmer. A comparison 

 of the net worth at the beginning and end of the year 

 shows the gain or loss for the year unless money or 

 property has been added to the business from some 

 other sources or taken from it. 



Cost-accounts. 



But an inventory does not show on which enter- 

 prises gains or losses have occurred. Usually a busi- 

 ness is made up of both profitable and unprofitable en- 

 terprises, or of enterprises that are unequally profitable. 

 In order to know how to develop the business to the 

 best advantage, it is important to know which enter- 

 prises pay best for the use of land and labor. Cost 

 accounts also have very many uses aside from deter- 

 mining the relative profitableness of different enter- 

 prises. If all the time spent, labor costs, and other 

 costs, and the receipts are known, it is often possible 

 to see ways of changing the management of a crop so as 

 to increase profits. 



In order to keep a complete cost-account with any 

 crop, it is necessary to know all the labor of men, teams 

 and machinery for the crop; to know all receipts and 

 expenses caused by the cropping, and to keep track of 

 any outlays contributed to the crop from the farm or 

 other enterprises, also whatever this crop contributes 

 to other enterprises. 



A work-report of the time of man and horse should 

 be kept in an ordinary account-book. At the end of the 

 year, the total time is charged to each crop-account in 

 the ledger. The ledger should have wide pages, so 

 that there may be room for full descriptions. The left- 

 hand page is used for charges, and the right-hand page 

 for credits. 



Each evening one should record any cash spent dur- 

 ing the day under the proper crop or enterprise. The 

 number of hours that have been spent on each enter- 

 prise for both man and horse labor are also recorded in 

 the form shown on the next page. For convenience, 

 the horse tune is reduced to terms of one horse. A 

 three-horse team working 10 hours is put down as 30 

 hours. If one desires, he may keep an account with 

 only one enterprise. It is better to keep accounts with 

 all the enterprises on the farm, so that one may study 

 each part of his business and the business as a whole. 



The best method of discussing the subject is to show 

 an account as kept by a farmer. The following account 

 with a 3-acre apple orchard was kept by a New York 

 farmer in 1912: 



