528 FARM MANAGEMENT 



business investment the same as railroads or bonds. Its 

 probable future value, as well as its earning power, should 

 be considered. In addition, land has a home value. If 

 one is to make his living from the farm, he should not 

 let the home value overshadow the business value that 

 must sustain the home. Neither should he ignore the 

 home value. Both are important. 



336. Map of the farm. Before a farm is purchased, 

 one should make a map of it showing the field lines and 

 fence lines. This may be sketched fairly rapidly. One 

 can then see how the farm looks on paper. Many a good 

 looking farm loses its good looks when a map is made, 

 showing the location of ditches, streams, fences, etc. 

 Each field should be marked with its crop and area; 

 this gives a picture of the amount of waste land and poor 

 land. 



337. Score card for farms. When examining farms, 

 it is well to use a score card like the above. Each 

 farm may be marked on each of the points, using the 

 words excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, or very poor. 

 Or the corresponding abbreviations, E., VG., G., F., P., or 

 VP. may be used. 



The areas of different kinds of land and estimated values 

 are filled in with figures. The estimated value of the 

 tillable land, buildings, etc., will be of much help if care- 

 fully made. One should be careful not to assign too high 

 a value to land that will not grow crops. Buildings 

 should be estimated in accordance with their value for 

 the use intended rather than for their cost. 



The chief purposes of a score card are to make the ex- 

 amination systematic and prevent one from forgetting 

 any points. 



338. Effect of amount of money available. If one 



