PETERS AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNT BOOK. 



H9 



and great assiduity iu manag^ement in every re- 

 gard. If sheep are propcrJy selected from hish- 

 bred Merino and Saxon flocks, and taken to a 

 latitude not south of 28-, if rightly managed, will 

 suffer little deterioration for many years, and 

 •will produce wools of a like description of the 

 Australian, soft, of even and long filament, fit for 

 felting, and also admirably adapted for the finest 

 and most beautiful of worsted fabrics. An in- 

 stance is known by tlie writer, (Mr. Mark H. 

 Cockrill,) of an imported flock of Saxons having 

 been taken to Tennessee some 20 years since, 

 and judging from the samples of wool from it 

 now in his possession, the conclusion is inesnta- 

 ble, that littJe or no deterioration has been pro- 

 duced by the climate. If sheep are provided 

 with suitable retreats for shade during the heat 

 of the summer montlis, there are manv districts 



in the Soutliem States tmsurpassed for wool cul- 

 tivation. If there is a tendency to coarseness, 

 it wiU be retarded or wholly prevented by an 

 occasional recurrence to nortliem stock getters. 

 Many imagine that the climate of the South- 

 em States is whoUy unsuitable for the produc- 

 tion of a fine fleece, because of the inferiority of 

 the wools of South America. The degeneracy 

 of the Merinos taken tliere, has not arisen so 

 much from the climate, as because "industrious 

 men and intelligent breeders " \%-ere not present 

 to manage them ; furthermore, verj" many of the 

 sheep transported there from Spain, were of 

 tlie Chunah breed, producing ver}- coarse wool, 

 and these ^vere promiscuously bred with the 

 Merino.s. The conservative power over the 

 fleece lies in good management far more than 

 climate. 



PETERS' AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNT BOOK. 



Dakiex, N. Y. Nov. 10, 1845. 

 To J. S. Skikneb, Esq : 



Dear Sir — It gives me great pleasure to see 

 you urge upon the farmers the importance of 

 keeping a Farm Register. There is no excuse 

 for the gross and culpable negligence of tliose 

 who omit it. For if a register or account book 

 is needed by any class of men, more than an- 

 other, that class is the farmers. Jt 



Fanning properly conducted is to a certain 

 extent a series of experiments, the results 

 whereof should be carefully registered, and not 

 left to the uncertainty of human memory. — 

 What intelligent farmer is there ^vho -would not 

 no-w give his best horse for a careful register of 

 his daily doings since he first commenced farm- 

 ing for himself. ^Vhat a mass of facts would 

 now be spread out for his insti-uction and dailv 

 guidance. And ho^v few farmers' families there 

 are in tliis broad land wherein the keeping of 

 such a dail}- account of farm transactions would 

 not form a most useful and instructive source of 

 amusement. \'Vhat would tend more to fix in 

 llie minds of the joung people a habit of close 

 observation, and patient investiaration ? 



Having felt the want of .«ome kind of a work 



> ^\'hich would do away with much of the com- 



) plexity of the present system of commercial 



) book-keeping. I compiled a book (a copy of 



) which I herewitli send you) \vhich ^^ ould pat it 



' in the power of every fanner with little trouble 



' to keep a complete account of all his doings. 



I feel quite sure that you can fully appreciate 



the importance of such a work. I do not claim 



for it pei-fection. but I do think it is the best that 



has yet been publir^hed. 



You cannot think how much I prize the " Li- 

 brary and Journal.'' The plan is right, and 

 the public appetite requires just su'-h a work, 

 but I saw its appearance with fear and tremb- 

 ling, for I thought it would be long before it 

 would even pay cost to its enterprising pub- 

 lishers. With best wishes, my dear Sir, 



I remain very sincerely yours, 

 T. C. PETERS. 



With the above we received the book referred 

 to. We shall place it in tlie hands of tlie Print- 

 er to be so arranged that the reader may fullj' 

 comprehend tlie system. It \^-ill be seen, as 

 the author says in his introduction, that while 

 " blanks are left in the heads of many columns, 

 (619) 



so that the farmer may put in any item he 

 t hink s proper, and he can also vary the printed 

 captions to suit circumstances — the printed head- 

 ing is put in to show the manner in which they 

 should be filled." It would appear to have 

 been fi-amed for Northern Husbandrj-, but the 

 system, he adds, '• is universal in its application, 

 so far as Agriculture is concerned, and may be 

 "made to answer as weU upon the plantations at 

 the South, as the farms of the Jv'orti!.'' 



This " Complete sj-stem of Book-keepin: 

 simplified and adapted to the use of Farmers," 

 is very appropriately dedicated to James S. 

 Wadsworth, Jr., then President of the Agri- 

 cultural Society of the State of Xew-York, — the 

 autlior being at the time President of the Gen- 

 esee Countj- Society — ^not only as a slight token 

 of his personal regard, but of approbation, of 

 the course he had taken in the great though still 

 too much neglected cause of agricultural im- 

 provement Allusion is fitly made to the debt 

 of gratitude due to Wadsworth, the elder, for 

 services of which we hope the Farmers' Libra- 

 ry for Jaimary will be made the medium of a 

 more particular record. 



The work sent us by the author is a half bound 

 two quire broad foolscap. The Daily Journal of 

 transactions occupies or comprises about one- 

 third of the book. The Labor Account about 8 

 pages; Current Account of Grain and Root 

 Crops, 4 : Account of Hay and Fodder Crops, 4 ; 

 Monthly Accoimt of Live Stock, 8 : Manure Ac- 

 count, 4 ; Weekly Dairy Account, or Fattening 

 Animal Account, 8 : Cash Account, Moutlily, 8 ; 

 Account of Sales, W^eklj' or Monthly, 4 ; Ex- 

 pense Account, W'eekly or Monthly, 4 ; Farm 

 Implement Accotmt, 4 : Land Account, 4 : Profit 

 and Loss Account occupying about one-third, 

 or the remaining portion of the book. We give 

 a specimen of the manner of ruling, but we 

 presume the Book itself can be purchased at 

 most of the Agricultural Depots. 



