DEC.] FARM ACCOUNTS* 



by one crop, yet the whole expence must be ch:i 



to the crop that receives it, or the accounts would be 



kept open so long as to create confusion. 



The time of balancing the books every year, should 

 be that of entering the farm : this is most usual at 

 Michaelmas ; but the crop of the year is not then 

 disposed of : to avoid valuations, which ought never 

 to be relied on, when certainty can possibly be 

 gained, the old year's accounts are to be kept open 

 long after the new year ones are begun ; that is, till 

 the corn is all threshed and sold, till the fatting 

 beasts are gone, and till all those circumstances arc 

 decided which relate to the preceding year. This is 

 essential to exact accounts, and can by no means be 

 dispensed with. In this case, valuations may be nearly 

 rejedled, but there are others in which no management 

 can exclude them : these are, in live stock not bought 

 and sold within the year ; and implements. 



A man may stock his farm with cows at 101. each ; 

 but if he suppose them, some years after, to be worth 

 the same sum, he will grossly deceive himself. He 

 must value them every year, and also the young- stock 

 which lie rears with a view to keep up the number, or 

 for sale : and the rule by which he should make the 

 valuation, ought to be the price they would sell for at 

 the moment. The same management must direct 

 him with succession beasts, bought or bred for fatten- 

 ing ; and also with a flock of sheep. On which last 

 head I must observe, that the want of keeping such 

 accounts as I am describing, is alone the reason for 

 a difference relating to the profit of sheep. Can any 

 thing be a clearer proof of the barbarity of accounts 



w n as 



