Book-keeping 



view each year and be compared with those of 

 previous seasons. If they were less, so much the 

 better; if more, he must see how that comes about 

 and find if they can be reasonably accounted for. 

 This annual checking and comparison of expenses, 

 when analysed, is vital to the proper conduct of a 

 business, for expenditure has the knack of quietly 

 and persistently increasing, and needs unceasing 

 scrutiny. 



I purposely said " ideal " in suggesting a profit 

 and loss account with the careful book-keeping 

 that this involves, because it is for the farmer a 

 counsel of perfection, but the nearer he approxi- 

 mates to this the more completely he keeps his 

 accounts, and the more accurately he analyses his 

 outgoings the better for him. The farmer may 

 urge that even had he the time or inclination 

 he has not the ability. But he might have his sons 

 taught book-keeping to their mutual benefit. The 

 result is always useful. There is the money spent in 

 cakes, feeding stuffs, and artificial manures, for 

 instance, and the question as to how much more, 

 if any, could be used with advantage. Then there 

 is the hiring of drills, thrashing machinery, steam 

 cultivators, chaff cutters, cost of grinding, etc., 

 and the problem as to whether it would pay to buy 

 one's own machinery or hire it. This can only be 

 settled by studying the figures of several years. 



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