Book V- ORUE 11 AND MANAGEMENT. .549 



of more importance than to the agriculturist, whose cares are so various, and the success 

 of whose operations, always connected with and dependent on living beings, depends so 

 much on their being performed at the fitting moment. 



3371. Propriety relates to what is fitting and suitable for particular circumstances ; it 

 is the natural result of an orderly mind, and may be said to include that part of order 

 which directs the choice and adaptation of means to ends, and of ideas and objects to 

 cases and situations. It belongs to order for a master to allow workmen proper periods 

 for rest and refreshment ; propriety dictates the time and duration of these periods ; and 

 prudence suggests the wisdom of departing as little as possible from established practices. 

 Decorum is the refinement of propriety. 



3372. Neatness, as opposed to slovenliness, is well understood ; it consists in having 

 every thing where it ought to be ; and in attending to the decorum of finishing operations, 

 and to minute things in general. 



3373. As maxims of order and neatness which ought to be continually present to the 

 minds both of masters and servants, we submit the following : — 



3374. Perform every operation in the proper season. The natural, and therefore the 

 best, indications for the operations of sowing and reaping, transplanting, &c. are given by 

 the plants themselves, or by the progress of the season as indicated by other plants. 

 There are artificial calendars, or remembrancers, the use of which is to remind the 

 master of the leading crops and operations of culture and management throughout the 

 years ; but, even if such books were made as perfect as their nature admits of, still they 

 are only calculated to aid the memory, not to supply the place of a watchful and vigilant 

 eye, and habits of attention, observation, reflection, and decision. Unless a steward or 

 farmer has these, either naturally, or partly from nature and partly from cultivation, ill 

 a considerable degree, he will be but little better than a common labourer, as to general 

 management and culture. 



3375. Perform every operation in the best manner. This is to be acquired in part by 

 practice, and partly also by reflection. 



3376. Complete every part of an operation as you proceed. This is an essential point in 

 field operations ; and though it cannot always be attended to, partly from the nature of 

 the operation, partly from "weather, &c, yet the judicious farmer or bailiff will keep it 

 in view as much as possible. 



3377. Finish one job before you begin another. This advice is trite, but it is of great 

 importance ; and there are few cases where it cannot be attended to. 



3378. In leaving off ivorking at any job, leave your ivork and tools in an orderly manner. 



3379. Attend strictly to the hours of commencing labour, and equally so to those of leaving 

 off, unless extraordinary exertion is required. 



3380. Whenever extraordinary exertions are required, extraordinary indulgences or 

 reivards must be given as compensations. 



3381. A regular system of accounts is an obvious part of order and correctness; and it 

 is equally obvious that the extent to which this must be carried will depend on the subject 

 of management. In the case of extensive landed estates, the regular set of books usual 

 in mercantile concerns becomes requisite, with the addition of some, as a forest-book, 

 time-book, &c. rendered necessary by particular departments of the subject. On small 

 farms, on the other hand, some memorandum-books, a cash-book, and a ledger, are all 

 that will be found necessary. Our business here is to give the form of the time-book, 

 which is or may be common to every department of agriculture and scale of management, 

 though most necessary for bailiffs, where a number of day labourers are employed on 

 improvements. In giving the practice of the different branches of agriculture, the books 

 peculiar to each will be described. There is nothing, indeed, that should be more 

 strenuously pressed upon the attention of farmers, than the importance of a good system 

 of keeping" their accounts, in which they are, generally speaking, very deficient. 



3382. The time-book is a large folio volume, ruled so as to read across both pages, 

 with columns titled as in the specimen annexed. In this the bailiff or master inserts the 

 name of every hand ; and the time in days, or proportions of a day, which each person 

 under his care has been at work, and the particular work he or she has been engaged in. 

 At the end of each week the bailiff' or master sums up the time from the preceding Saturday 

 or Monday, to the Friday or Saturday inclusive ; the sum due or to be advanced to each 

 man is put in one column, and when the man receives it he writes the word received in 

 the column before it, and signs his name as a receipt in the succeeding column. The 

 time-book, therefore, will show what every man has been engaged in during every hour 

 in the vear for which he has been paid, and it will also contain receipts for every sum, 

 however trifling, which has been paid by the bailiff for rural labour. In short, it would 

 be difficult to contrive a book more satisfactory for both master and servant than the 

 time-book, as it prevents, as far as can well be done, the latter from deceiving either him- 

 self or his employer, and remains an authentic indisputable record of work done, and 

 of vouchers for money paid during the whole period of the bailiff's services. 



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