NOTES. 13 



15 Surrey Report, p. 107; Warwickshire Report, p. 43; North Hiding 

 Report, p. 77, &c. 



16 Herefordshire Report, p. 4V ; Warwickshire Report, p. 45 ; Surrey Re- 

 port, p. 107, &e. 



17 Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 237. Unless stock, for instance, keep 

 at their original value, the farmer may be apparently a gainer, whilst in reality 

 he is losing money. 



1 8 Besides the obvious advantages of enabling a man to understand his own 

 affairs, and to avoid being cheated, it has a moral effect upon the farmer, of 

 the greatest consequence, however small his dealings may be. Experience 

 shews, that men situated like small farmers, (who are their own masters, and 

 yet have very little capital to manage or to lose), are very apt to contract habits 

 of irregularity, procrastination, and indolence. They persuade themselves that 

 a thing may be as well done to-morrow as to-day, and the result is, that the 

 thing is not done till it is too late, and then, hastily and imperfectly. Now 

 nothing can be conceived better adapted to check this disposition, than a deter- 

 mination to keep regular accounts. The very consciousness that a man has to 

 make entries in his books of every thing that he does, keeps his attention alive 

 to what he is to do ; and the act of making those entries, is the best possible 

 training to produce active and painstaking habits. 



19 Bedfordshire Report, p. 160; Herefordshire Report, p. 42. The ancient 

 Romans were perfectly aware of the necessity of economy, in cultivation. It 

 was a caution given by Varro, to take care, " Ne sumptus fructum sitperet." 

 Let not the expense exceed the return. And Pliny is even more pointed, 

 since he delivers as a maxim, " Bene colere lucrosum, optime colere damno- 

 " sum." To till well is profitable ; but profuse agriculture is ruinous. Co- 

 ventry's Discourses, p. 58. 



20 By carefully examining the accounts of the smith, the carpenter, and 

 other tradesmen employed by the farmer, important savings of expense may be 

 effected. 



21 Mr Blaikie, formerly bailiff to the Earl of Chesterfield, and now to Mr 

 Coke of Norfolk, besides his accounts of money transactions, and an accurate 

 valuation of stock, both dead and alive, annually made out records, of even the 

 most minute particulars; for instance, respecting a hay-stack the date when 

 carried in ; where from ; number of waggon-loads ; how got in ; and the es- 

 timated number of tons ; whilst on the opposite side is entered, the date when 

 cut; where used ; by what stock, &c. Derbyshire Rejtort, vol. ii. p. 40. 



22 This subject is fully discussed in Young's Farmer's Calendar, p. 533 to 

 549- In regard to accounts, the greatest objects are, 1. Clearness; and 2. 

 Brevity. 



The first point, however, cannot be obtained in a large concern, unless the 

 following accounts are kept : 



1. A weekly account of receipts and disbursements, with the balance at the 

 end of each week. 



2. A monthly account of ditto. 



3. An annual account-current, consisting of the several totals of the twelve 

 monthly accounts. * 



4. A granary account, distinguishing the several quantities of grain of dif- 

 ferent sorts thrashed out, and the disposal and expenditure of every particular 

 of the same, and what remains on hand. 



5. An account of live stock, and the buying and selling, and profit derived 

 from each sort ; and, 



6. An estimate of the capital employed, or the value of the live stock, crops, 

 manure, implements, and other property, at the commencement of each year, 

 and a statement of the profit or income that has been derived from the farm 

 during the course of the preceding year ; Marshall on Landed Property, 

 p. 424 ; and the Husbandry of Scotland, vol ii. Appendix, No. 39. 



