THE A a in a u l t u h a l j o r r n a l. lof) 



Farmers' Accounts. 



By Arthur Barnett. 



(Ccnt'inued from 

 COST BOOK. 



BEFORE passing on to the concluding 

 portion of niy remarks, which will 

 be addressed more particularly to the 

 small farmer who from choice or necessity 

 elects to keep his own accounts, I would 

 say to all farmers who can spare the time, 

 or can command the necessary assistance, 

 keep a cost book (a small ledger costing, 

 say 2s. (Id. will do, or a blank book ruled 

 as per Form No. 1). If properly filled in 

 this book will show at a glance the profit 

 or loss on any crop, and should well re- 

 pay the little trouble involved in the few 

 entries necessary. It can also be adapted 

 for sheep dipping, so as to show cost per 

 score of sheep dipped, results, &c., as well 

 as for tree planting, poultry, and dairying. 



STOCK BOOK. 



The illustration (No. 2) speaks for itself, 

 but as a book ruled exactly in the manner 

 shewn is not stocked by the stationers, 

 and too much time would be needed in 

 the ruling of a blank book containing the 

 requisite number of pages, a small day- 

 book could be bought for about 3s. which 

 would answer the purpose with the addi- 

 tion of another column for "Numbers" 

 or " Quantity." In this case the money 

 columns would be ignored as such and 

 used simply as single columns. 



A Simple System for Small 



FARMliRS. 



The cost book and stock book as men- 

 ti.med above are equally useful on large 

 or small holdings. Assuming, however, 

 that the ordinary farmer's time is too fully 

 occupied during the day to allow of his 

 devoting any portion of it to his accounts, 

 and that half-an-hour to an hour in the 

 evening is all that he can spare for this 

 object I shall only advocate the follow- 

 ing simple method as being the " irre- 

 ducible minimum " of book-keeping for 

 the average farmer, anything short of 

 which leaves him open to a charge of 



page 46, Ao. 2.) 



grave carelessness, not to call it by a worse 

 name, should misfortune at any time over- 

 take him. The supplies required to start 

 with are as under : — 



1. One or two books of " Bought of " 



forms for making out bills of pro- 

 duce, &c., sold, with carbon 

 leaves for keeping duplicates ; 

 also a book of " Receipt Forms." 



2. A scrap book, large size, such as 



is used by children for pasting 

 in pictures. 



3. A diary, with, say, three days on 



a page. 



4. A cash book, specially ruled, as 



per Form No. 3. 

 b. A journal, thinnest obtainable, 

 ruled as per Form No. 4 (the 

 cash book and journal can be in 

 one book if twenty pages or so 

 of the latter ruling be printed 

 and bound to follow, say, 180 

 pages of the former). 



6. A rubber stamp, " Paid," with 



date, or a blue pencil, and a bottle 

 of gum or paste. 



7. Ink, pens, ruler, blotting-paper, 



&c. 



Cash Book. 



The cash book, item No. 4, would 

 have to be specially ruled to order, as 

 nothing of the sort is stocked by the local 

 stationers. One or two Maritzburg firms 

 have expressed their willingness to print 

 and keep same in stock should the demand 

 justify this ste^j ; the book would then 

 come much cheaper. Including the cost 

 of printing and binding this book, the 

 total bill for stationery should not amount 

 to £2, and this cannot be considered ex- 

 cessive. 



The multiplicity of columns necessitates 

 rather a wide cash book, but in practice it 

 will be found that the larger the number 

 of columns in use the clearer the resulting 

 information will be, and that the filling in 

 of the figures under their separate head- 



