544 FARM ACCOUNTS. [DEC, 



as they are kept at present by flock-m aster s, than the 

 surprizing question once in agitation among them, 

 whether they gain or lose by their flocks : a question 

 that has arisen from Mr. Macro's paper on that sub- 

 ject, published in the Annah of Agriculture. Such 

 uncertainty could not obtain, if farmers kept regular 

 accounts. The description of the profits of a flock 

 not being properly a calculation, ba-t an account, it 

 ought to be transcribed from a man's private books ; 

 unfortunately, they are kept in such a manner, that 

 difficulties multiply at every step in the endeavour to 

 understand them. 



Implements must all be valued every year, and the 

 balance, being the expence, carried to the wear and 

 tear account, of which it makes a part. 



One of the most complex and difficult accounts, if 

 not the most so of all, is that of grass-lands, fed. It 

 involves itself with cattle of all kinds, with hay, with 

 the team, &c. ; and in such a manner as to make an 

 accurate separation very difficult. How is the value 

 of the food to be calculated ? If 3s. a week for a cow 

 or a bullock, or 6d. for a sheep be charged, it is merely 

 arbitrary : such estimates are fallacious. They imply 

 profits, but allow nothing for losses. On the other 

 hand, if the actual profit or loss on the live stock be 

 made the product ; in that case, the grass-land must 

 be made a mere cattle- account : there arc obvious ob- 

 jections to this ; but it is, upon the whole, less ob- 

 jeclionable than a valuation per week, which must, in 

 the nature of it, lead to error. On this principle, the 

 account may be kept in the following manner : 



One account opened for mowing ground, to which 



the 



