256 FARM ACCOUNTING 



ing, cultivating, etc., and with any other work performed 

 by horses in the garden or by anyone from the household 

 whose thne might ordinarily be charged to Labor account. 

 It is also charged with a proportion of rent or interest on 

 investment, with equipment expense and any general ex- 

 pense that might be pro rated over the area occupied by 

 the garden. No entry is required when garden products 

 are used in the house ; but the household is credited when 

 any products are sold to outside parties. 



It is sometimes better to keep a separate account with 

 the garden. In such cases the Garden account is charged 

 "with all the elements of cost enumerated in tin- preceding 

 paragraph. It is credited with any products sold to out- 

 siders, but not with products consumed by the household. 

 At the close of the year any balance is closed into the 

 Household account. Thus, the ultimate result is exactly 

 the same whether the charges and credits are carried 

 through the Garden account or made in the II ousel ml<l 

 account direct. 



For the purpose of treating a garden in this way, the 

 term should be limited to include only the plot of ground 

 near the house, designed primarily to provide for tin' needs 

 of the household. Any special plots of potatoes, sweet 

 corn, melons, or other products ordinarily found in a rar- 

 den, but meant in any particular case primarily for sale on 

 the market, should be treated in the same way as a field 

 producing farm crops. 



Pasture. Following the general principles of cost ac- 

 counting of charging all expenses and crediting all incomes 

 to the accounts directly affected, it is necessary to treat 

 pastures in somewhat the same way that any other field is 

 treated. However, a pasture has some eharaeteristies of a 

 crop, and some of a field. Accordingly, it is permissible 

 to have the Pasture account show a loss or gain, while it is 

 not proper for a field account to show a loss or gain. 



