180 ESSAY ON FARM ACCOUNTS, &C. 



of the general receipts or payments, usually constitute the en- 

 tire financial record of our farmers, even those who amass large 

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

 ges of clear accounts are so obvious, that book keeping, by the 

 Italian mode of double entry, is an essential branch of public 

 education. Business meu, who are not regular in their ac- 

 counts, 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 des- 

 tined to be, in all its details, an exception to every thing else. 

 Men engage in it Avithout previous education, or study, or ev- 

 en inquiry ; — and they oonduct large business in it without 

 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 on his business 

 in a more regular and methodical way, and consequently, with 

 greater assurance of success, than if every thing, (as is too fre- 

 quently 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-keep- 

 ing," Edinburgh, 1831; " Harding's Farmer's Account Book," 

 London, 1846 ; " Barry on Farm Accounts," London, 1849. 



To keep a Diary and Farm Accounts, a farmer must occu- 

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

 mind, which demands the samo constant cultivation as his 



