16 DETERMINATION OF METHOD 



method under review, and the utility of its application seems 

 to be confined to simple forms of farming, where a few 

 products are concerned, and where a considerable volume 

 of evidence on the cost of some particular product is wanted 

 in some particular district or from some special group of 

 farms. 



It is the analytical method which is pursued in connexion 

 with the highly developed mixed farms of this country. 

 It is practised with the aid of ordinary double-entry book- 

 keeping, a familiarity with the principles of which on the 

 part of the reader is assumed, and it is based on the com- 

 pilation of accurate records of the application of capital 

 and labour to production on the farm. The results of the 

 analysis of these records, entered into account books on 

 the double-entry principle, provide the manager with 

 an economic review of the results of his management in all 

 departments. 



The first record necessary is that showing the distribution 

 of the Capital invested in the farm. In the case of a farm 

 already in operation this will be less a record than an estima- 

 tion, for the farmer, or other investigator, will have no 

 reliable data of the nature of records of cost from which to 

 compile his figures. An appraisement of the capital laid 

 out in the various branches of the enterprise, and in the 

 means of production, must be made, about which more will 

 be found in the following chapter (p. 37). 



An important adjunct to the Capital record which is 

 rarely or never met with on the farm, but the value of 

 which is universally recognized in industry, is the Stock 

 Book. This, as its name implies, is a register of the stock- 

 in-hand on the farm, that is to say the dead stock. As 

 a matter of convenience the Stock Book should be kept 

 in sections under divisions such as these : (i) Manures, 

 (ii) Feeding Stuffs, (iii) Granary, (iv) Implements and 

 Machinery, (v) Miscellaneous Tools and Consumable Stores. 

 The Manures Book is ruled to show purchases of artificials, 

 and their application to the various fields, dates and 

 quantities being specified in either case. A separate page, 



