148 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE FARMER : 



The subject which has so far engaged the larger share of 

 attention at the Institute, on account of its prime importance, 

 is cost accounting; in other words, the development of a system 

 of book-keeping which will enable a farmer to ascertain the profit 

 arising from each productive department of his fann, and thus 

 to criticise his own management and to see in what way it could 

 be modified with financial advantage to himself. It is not 

 enough to know approximately what profit is being made on the 

 farm as a whole ; this information is, of course, valuable, and 

 many farmers are now having accounts kept on these lines, 

 partly for income tax purposes, and thus have the advantage of 

 knowing how they stand financially at the end of the year. 

 But the result gives no indication as to how any particular branch 

 of farming compares with another branch, and experience of cost- 

 ing shows that the farmer who thinks he can judge of this from 

 experience and from a study of prevailing market prices is often 

 at fault in his conclusions. Certain concrete examples of this, 

 chosen from farms for which accounts were kept by the Oxford 

 Institute, may be quoted. A South-Midland farmer, who was 

 under the impression that he was making money on sheep, 

 found that actually his flocks had involved him in a loss of about 

 ;£6oo during the year. This was for the year ending Lady Day, 

 192 1, and therefore before the present severe slump in prices of 

 sheep, and the loss was directly attributable to the heavy wages 

 bill which was incurred in this department of his farm. The 

 farmer has decided to continue sheep farming" for another year, 

 and if it still shows a loss he will consider the question of altering 

 his system of farming. In the case of this farm, also, the accounts 

 revealed a possible wastefulness in the old custom of paying 

 wages partl}^ in cash and partly in kind ; for it was shown that 

 the bailiff, whose wages in cash were about £150 a year, was 

 actually receiving the equivalent of £400 a year in allowances, 

 thus bringing his total wage to over £11 a week. Another case 

 is that of a Sussex fanner, who was firmly convinced that his 

 profits were derived from his store beasts. The first year's 

 accounts showed that he had lost nearly £200 from these cattle ; 

 in the second year, the loss was slightly greater. He therefore 

 decided to alter his policy, and has gone in for dairying, which 

 pays him extreme^ well. The accounts of this farm also showed 

 that his methods of controlling the feeding of the stock were 

 open to criticism ; the rations were admirable, but the stock were 

 actually consuming 30 per cent, more than their prescribed rations. 

 This was rectified in the following year, with the result that the 

 margin of waste due to errors in feeding was reduced to five 

 per cent. 



