M, 



346 ?AltM ACCOUNTS. [ 



may in a turnip country buy them cheaper than he 

 &an cultivate them : he submits in some cases to a 

 known loss, because he knows he shall be more than 

 repaid in the barley that follows- ; but to transfer this 

 loss to the cattle would be unfair. One way of pro- 

 ceeding is, to value the turnips at what they would sell 

 for, and to debit the cattle accounts with their respec- 

 tive consumptions. But there are two prices of turnips ; 

 one, for carrying the crop on to another man's land ; 

 the other, for eating them in the field. The latter 

 ought to be the rate chosen on this occasion, charging 

 the cattle with the labour and expences of carriage. 

 But the aflual profit is a better guide. 



Here, therefore, at the end of the year, five or six, 

 or more, unsettled accounts are open, not one of 

 which can be closed but by reference to each other. 

 Hence arises the great complexity of the farmer's ac- 

 counts ; but, amidst this apparent confusion, order 

 must be made to arise, or our labour is vain. 



The reader will see that the main question on which 

 this arrangement depends, is this shall the profit or 

 loss on live stock be assigned to the stock, by a valua- 

 tion per week ; or, to the land they feed on by a divi- 

 sion per week of the aclual profit or loss arising ? 



Suppose that two hundred pounds profit would be 

 the balance of the sheep account if food be not 

 charged ; shall this sum stand as pr<)fil, and the fields 

 fed charged necessarily with loss ; or shall that balance 

 be distributed proportionally among the fields which 

 have supported the flock ? The balance of the account, 

 2001. amounts to Gd. per head per week for 5'2 weeks. 

 They have been fed 15 weeks in grass-lauds fed, 1O 



in 



