18 BULLETIN 590, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
CREDIT COLUMNS. 
Cash.—The cash column carries all items of cash ot whatever 
nature which are disbursed by the organization either for petty 
expenditures or to be deposited in the bank. It should be a strict 
rule that all cash receipts are to be deposited in the bank when it is 
possible to do so. It is sometimes found inexpedient to adhere 
strictly to this rule because of infrequent petty expenditures, and for 
that reason a cash column on the credit side of the journal has been 
provided. Where a petty cash fund is in use, the credit-cash column 
need not be used, since deposits may then be indicated by transfer 
of daily totals of incoming cash from the debit-cash column to the 
bank-deposits column.t A receipt should be taken for every ex-. 
penditure of cash and all disbursements of $1 and over should be 
paid by check. 
Bank withdrawals.—In the bank-withdrawal column are extended 
the amounts of all checks drawn on the bank. 
General, mercantile, and fruit ledgers——These columns serve the 
same purposes on the credit side as were explained on the debit side, 
the postings being made to the credit side of the ledger accounts in 
‘this instance. 
Boxes, paper, nails, and spray.—These columns carry all credits 
arising from the sale of supplies. 
Fruit sales.—All remittances from the sale of fruit are extended 
in the fruit-sales column. 
Merchandise.—In the merchandise column are extended all sales 
of merchandise, such as hay, grain, feed, and flour. 
THE LEDGER. 
The ledger is the book of accounts. After the transactions of the 
business have been recorded in the cash journal the debit and credit 
items arising from such transactions are transferred or posted to the 
proper accounts in the ledger. In this way all of the debits and 
credits pertaining to a particular person or subject are collected 
in a ledger account under a proper caption, making it possible to view 
and consider the.account as a whole. 
The ledger is divided into three parts and designated as the mer- 
cantile ledger, the fruit ledger, and the general ledger. This is done 
partly to facilitate the handling of the accounts and partly to allow 
the use of special forms for the mercantile and fruit ledgers which 
tends to reduce the work materially. 
THE GENERAL LEDGER. 
The general ledger contains all of the accounts other than those 
falling within the scope of the growers’ mercantile ledger and the 
1 Directions for operating petty cash funds are set forth in detail in U.S. Department of Agriculture 
Bulletin No. 178, ‘Cooperative Organization Business Methods.’’ 
