RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 399 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the production of a crop 

 of corn does not require labor continuously throughout the year. The 

 same is true of oats, and it happens that the nature of these plants 

 is such that oats can and must be sown earlier than corn, and that 

 oats require no further attention until after the corn has been planted 

 and cultivated. The harvesting and thrashing of the oats are or can 

 be over before the corn is ready to be harvested. These crops are, 

 for these reasons, said to be complementary (compare Figs. 15 

 and 18). 



Corn is not the only crop which requires attention at the given 

 tune of year. In some regions, tobacco and corn are both open to 

 the farmer's choice. In some places the sugar beet is an alternative; 

 in others, cotton. Likewise, the farmer has a choice of several crops 

 in the seasons when oats are sown and harvested. Barley and spring 

 wheat will suggest themselves as alternatives to oats in certain regions. 

 The crops which require attention at the same time of year are said 

 to be competitive (Figs. 18 and 19). 



It is obviously to the farmer's interest that he select from each 

 group of competing crops the one which will add most to his net 

 income. It is equally clear that he will desire to combine as many 

 complementary enterprises as will add to the profitableness of the 

 business as a whole. 



The problem the accountant has before him is the planning of 

 such records as will show the way iii which the various complementary 

 enterprises fit together to fill out the year's employment, and such 

 records as will enable him to show the relative profitableness of each 

 of the competing enterprises. 



To secure these results a labor record is a necessity. A labor 

 record showing the exact distribution of all man and horse labor 

 employed each day in the year gives the material for a chart which 

 will show the time employed in each enterprise. The charts for the 

 various enterprises on one farm will show the complementary character 

 of certain crops, and the charts for a series of farms in the same 

 locality on some of which the one, on some the other, of a group of 

 competing crops are being grown, the competitive character of certain 

 crops can be shown. 



It is necessary to know what was done and what might have been 

 done in order to judge the merits of the management. A labor record 

 may show the hired man was cutting wood on a given forenoon in 

 June. If supplementary data show the land was too wet to be 



