128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



in order that they may easily be distinguished from the ex- 

 penditures, for both receipts and expenditures may, in some 

 cases, be put in one column. 



Many items will need to be analyzed before entering, in 

 order to know that every detail of every bill shall be charged 

 to the correct account. For instance, a bill for grain is divided 

 in such a way that whatever was used for the cows is charged 

 to cows; that used for poultry, to poultry; for horses, to horses, 

 etc. For instance, if the farmer will indicate, on the slip which 

 the dealer gives him whenever he buys grain, just which ani- 

 mals he is buying it for, he will not need to trust to his memory 

 to divide up the bill at the end of the month. 



A bill for hardv/are, too, may be partly for tools, partly for 

 repairs to buildings, and partly for some permanent improve- 

 ment. This bill should be divided accordingly, and so on 

 with the other bills. 



The receipts are taken care of in the same way. For instance, 

 if a customer pays a bill — suppose Mrs. Brown pays her $15, 

 that amount is divided between cows and poultry, according 

 to the amount for butter, eggs, milk and cream. These figures 

 are always available in the bill book. 



I have here a sample page from such a distribution book. 

 (See Fig. 2.) This shows only part of the headings which 

 might be used. 



The headings of the distribution sheet will depend on the 

 nature of the farm. If a dairy farm, we would naturally be 

 interested to keep a number of subheadings under cows, such 

 as butter, milk, cream, stock, grain, labor and dairy; while if 

 the cows were a secondary interest, we might need only one 

 or two. If a poultry farm, we would divide up into several 

 headings for the poultry; this, of course, in order to enable us to 

 know at the end of the month, or the year, not only what the 

 net gain for that particular thing was, but also to know in 

 what special branch the greater part of that profit was made. 



The question of dividing the labor into the proper accounts 

 is always a difficult one. The greater part of it must neces- 

 sarily go under the heading of general labor, but as far as 

 possible anything which can be charged to a definite account 

 is so charged. For instance, on a large poultry farm, where 



