478 FARM MANAGEMENT 



book. All that is needed is place for date, wide space for 

 writing, and a column for dollars and one for cents. In 

 some kinds of bookkeeping, little space is needed in the 

 ledger, but for cost accounting one needs a wide book so 

 that when he opens it to study an account, he. will have a 

 full description of all transactions without having to refer 

 to any other place. The mere statement of total costs and 

 total receipts has little value. One must study details 

 before he can come to wise conclusions as to how to re- 

 organize the business: 



For the above reason, the many column ledgers, with the 

 kind of expense at the head of the column, are not adapted 

 to cost accounting. They do not allow room for full state- 

 ments. For instance, feed purchased for cows should show 

 in the cow account the pounds and the kind of feed, as 

 well as the cost. The farmer refers to the amount and 

 kind of feed as frequently as to the cost. All details must 

 be included in the ledger to make the accounts most 

 valuable. 



284. Journals and day books. The book known as a 

 journal is little used in any business ; it is wholly out of 

 place on a farm. The farmer has work enough to do with- 

 out writing down his transactions three or four times over. 

 For the same reason, the day book is useless. The object 

 of a day book is to have a book where transactions can be 

 written down quickly without keeping another customer 

 waiting. Business men who keep their own accounts, 

 and who have time after each transaction to enter it in a 

 ledger, once for all, rarely use a day book. The farmer has 

 just as much time to enter items in the ledger at once as 

 later. If ho keeps both a day book and ledger, his account- 

 ing will soon end, because he will get so far behind with his 

 posting that he will give it up. The original entry ledger, 



