I 



FARMS. 115 



value, credit, and charge all fodder made and consumed on the 

 farm, in the same manner as if the hay or manure were bought, 

 or sold. But the farmer should be careful in his account of 

 cost of keeping his stock, to charge it at the same value, as he 

 credits it in the account of products of the farm. Mr. Thomp- 

 son charges 1120 as cost of keeping stock the last year, from 

 November 15, 1862, to October 22, 1863. He credits the farm 

 with 35 tons of English and fresh hay, 8153, cut the last 

 summer. In his account for 1862, printed in last year's report, 

 we find that he credits the farm with 20 tons English hay 

 8320, and 11 tons fresh hay 8125, making five hundred and 

 forty-five dollars' worth of hay. During that year, to November 

 15, 1862, he charges 8150 for keeping cows and sheep, besides 

 830 for three tons of salt hay purchased. It does not appear 

 that he has credited the farm in any year with any hay as 

 specially sold, although this may have been the case. If such 

 was not the case, he has either a very large supply of old hay 

 on hand, or he has not charged the stock for hay at the rate at 

 which he has credited it to the farm. 



For the farmer who makes and spends his own hay and manure 

 and has no question as to the crops he will cultivate, we know 

 no necessity of including either in the farm accounts. His 

 object is to ascertain his actual net profit up to the time he 

 turns to cash his final product, in the form in which he intended 

 to bring it to market. The cost to him is the interest on his 

 money invested, and amount expended in labor, tools, taxes, 

 seed, and repairs. The profit is all he receives over these 

 expenses, and that profit is the excess over the interest on a 

 fair market valuation of his farm, at the beginning of the year, 

 added to its increased value by his cultivation during the year. 

 But no good farmer should be satisfied with this mode of keeping 

 his accounts, because it does not teach him whether he might 

 not make a greater profit by selling his products in some other 

 form. It may be better for him to sell the hay and buy manure- 

 It may be better to graze cattle -than to fatten them, or to raise 

 market products, than to find his product at the milk-pail, or 

 in tlie dairy. This he cannot do, unless he takes account of the 

 cost and market value of his various crops. 



But with a mixed husbandry, such as prevails in New England, 

 it is especially necessary that he should keep an account of his 



