5 "[9 Transactions of the American Institute. 



proljlem; the mysterious appearance of insects which may eat out 

 the profits of a year's labor can rarely be forestalled; to foretell 

 the changes in the market correctly requires almost prophetic 

 power, and so of many points which contain elements of the high- 

 est importance in laying out plans and calculating chances for suc- 

 cess. This acknowledged truth makes it all the more requisite to 

 thrifty farming, that all ascertainable facts relating to its various 

 operations be known and takeu into account. The most inveterate 

 guesser can find scope enough for his talent on the weather alone, 

 without making his guessing faculty afford information as to the 

 size of his fields, their rate of produce, the amount sold, or the 

 profits of the transactions. Weights and measures, pens, ink, and 

 paper are as indispensable to sure success in farming, as are plows, 

 hoes, mowers, and reapers. They are emphatically tools for the 

 use of the brains; the others pertain more to the muscular depart- 

 ment. To illustrate by a few examples: One dairyman guesses his 

 cows are doing pretty well; the flow of milk is good, and the 

 amount of butter made is a fair average, as shown by the returns 

 received from the buyer. The producer has not himself measured 

 the o'allons of milk nor weisfhed the amount of butter. He may 

 make money; many do this without any system. Another daiiy- 

 man, by a few days' testing with gallon measures and scales, knows 

 the exact amount of milk and weight of butter produced by each 

 cow; then he decides which animals to keep and which to sell — 

 perhaps to his neighbor, who never bothers with weighing and 

 measuring. He also can tell to an ounce how much butter shrinks 

 in passing through the hands of a commission merchant, if such a 

 thing be possible. Another case: Farmer No. 1 feeds his cattle 

 until he thinks they are ftit enough to turn off, sells them to the 

 butcher at their estimated dressed weight, and pockets the pro- 

 ceeds. How much of the amount is profit, he cannot tell; he did 

 not measure the feed nor weigh the animals. 



Farmer Xo. 2 feeds out grain by measure or weight, and charges 

 it to the bullock. At intervals of a week or more he rigs his plat- 

 form scales so that the animal can stand upon it, notes how much 

 beef it shows for the grain eaten, and Avhen the feeding docs not 

 pay, sells to the butcher or drover. In doing this he is not afraid 

 of the practiced eye of the buyer, which can almost fix the notch 

 at which the bullock will turn the scale. He has consulted his 

 unerring Fairbanks, and knows w^hen the right price is offered 

 according to the rates quoted in the last week's papers. Now, a 



