34 DETERMINATION OF METHOD 



a man-hour and of a horse-hour is found, and the labour 

 costs thus arrived at, both manual and horse, are posted 

 to the departmental ledger accounts. 



In arriving at this flat rate for labour certain pre- 

 cautions are necessary. The wage-rates of adult workers 

 vary considerably with the nature of their employment, 

 and if all of them are combined together it may result in 

 the undue reduction of the real cost of one or more depart- 

 ments at the expense of others. In the first place, therefore, 

 all piece-work should be charged direct to the department 

 in which it is applied. Secondly, the wages of special men 

 engaged whole -time in particular occupations should be 

 eliminated from the flat-rate calculation ; thus, the bailiff 's 

 wages may be charged direct to the Establishment Account 

 (see p. 53), the shepherd's to the sheep, and so on. Thirdly, 

 where boys and women are customarily employed their time 

 should be recorded on the Analysis -sheets separately from 

 that of the men by grouping the latter at the head of the 

 sheet, and the former at its foot. Separate records, both of 

 time and money, for each group will thus allow of the cal- 

 culation, at the end of the year, of separate unit time-rates, 

 and the cost of a ' man-hour ' and of a * boy-hour ' can be 

 found at which to price the work done by men and boys 

 respectively in any department. 



Coming to the Live Stock and Foods record, all foods 

 are debited as bought, in the first instance, to a Foods 

 Account, and then by means of the food-consumption record 

 the quantities and prices of bought foods are worked out, 

 and also the value of the food-residues as given in Voelcker 

 and Hall's or some other recognized tables (modified, as 

 may be needed, to bring them into accord with present 

 values). Thus, the charge against the stock is arrived at, 

 and also that against the manure. It is in this connexion 

 that the value arises of the record of the place where con- 

 sumed, i.e. * field or yard '. If consumed on the field, the 

 value of the residue is charged against that field ; if con- 

 sumed in yards, the value is charged against the farmyard 

 manure account. Home-grown foods are priced at their 



