ESSEX SOCIETY. Ill 



large sums of money. In every other pursuit in life, the ad- 

 vantages of clear accounts are so obvious, that book-keeping, 

 by the Italian mode of double entry, is an essential branch of 

 public education. Business men, who are not regular in their 

 accounts, are always rated as unsafe customers by the prudent 

 portion of merchants ; nor is there a greater reproach to a com- 

 mercial house, short of insolvency. But agriculture seems 

 destined to be, in all its details, an exception to every thing 

 else. Men engage in it without previous education, or study, 

 or even inquiry ; and they conduct large business in it with- 

 out those accounts known to be necessary in every other 

 pursuit. 



Would it not be of great utility to every farmer, to have be- 

 fore him a correct statement of his stock, farm, crops, and im- 

 plements, taken at the close of the preceding year? From 

 such certain documents, he would be able to proceed in his 

 business in a more regular and methodical way, and conse- 

 quently, with greater assurance of success, than if every thing, 

 (as is too frequently the case,) were left to custom, chance, or 

 the exertion of the moment. 



In addition to this annual valuation, every farmer should 

 keep a Cash Book, and a specimen is annexed to this essay of 

 a form which has been found simple and correct. Separate 

 accounts may be opened under the heads of Garden, Potato 

 Crop, Woodland, Dairy, Poultry; in short, the relative ex- 

 pense, income, and profit of every branch of agriculture may 

 be accurately ascertained. Amateur farmers, particularly those 

 who carry into the country the methodical habits of the count- 

 ing-house, will find in foreign works, rules for making regular 

 and multiplied entries of every transaction on a farm. The 

 most esteemed of these works are : " Munroe's Guide to Farm 

 Book-keeping," Edinburgh, 1825 ; " Trotter's Farm Book- 

 keeping," Edinburgh, 1831; '-Harding's Farmer's Account 

 Book," London, 1846 ; " Barry on Farm Accounts," London, 

 1849. 



To keep a diary and farm account, a farmer must occupy 

 some of his time, but, in so doing, he will improve his mind, 



