44 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



It is not intended that the result in profit or loss, say, of 

 sheep or roots, is the only criterion to apply. One eye must 

 be kept on the cash return, and the other on the fertility of the 

 land and the effects on the farm generally. Farm operations 

 are interdependent, and the relation and the benefit of that 

 branch to all the others must also be considered. These prac- 

 tical considerations will always be uppermost in the farmer's 

 mind. 



In addition to finding the total cost of producing any crop 

 or class of stock, he can also ascertain the detailed items making 

 up the total cost in each case. Comparisons of these figures 

 from year to year, or from farm to farm, will afford useful informa- 

 tion. The cost of various operations will be available ; the 

 cost and effectiveness of horse labour can be compared with 

 tractor work ; information is obtained as to the number of 

 actual working days of the horses during the year, as well as 

 much further information that should assist in the farm manage- 

 ment. 



The information afforded by keeping milk costs may be 

 mentioned as an example. Two convenient units of cost are 

 available, one being the gallon and the other the cow-day. The 

 various items of cost such as grazing, other home-grown foods, 

 purchased foods, labour, etc., can be easily worked out at so 

 much per gallon or per cow-day. The cost and the quantities 

 of alternative rations can be ascertained, the comparative 

 advantages of using silos is shown, as well as the effect on the 

 costs of improving the pastures, etc., while, if desired, the cost 

 of producing milk in the summer period and the winter period 

 can be ascertained. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper 

 Mr. Orwin observed that if Agriculture was to hold its own 

 the farmer must know more of costing than he had known in 

 the past. During the period of agricultural depression many 

 farmers would have been saved from disaster if they had had 

 accounts to guide them. They might have to meet a similar 

 position at the present time. There had been a period of 

 prosperity during the war and possibly that would now pass 

 away. With adequate records, however, farmers would be 

 able to direct themselves into profitable lines of management. 



Speaking from the workers' point of view Mr. Denton 

 Woodhead remarked that if farmers had kept some system 

 of accounts in the past the work of the Agricultural Wages 

 Board would have been simplified. They were told that the 



