220 Simple Cost Accounts for Farmers. [June, 



should be the cost of growing less allowances for the cleaning 

 and manure by which succeeding crops benefit. As these cannot 

 easily be worked out by the farmer, the following arbitrary figures 

 may be adopted : — ^ 



Mangolds, Swedes and Turnips, to be carted off, £15 per acre. 

 Swedes and Turnips to be fed off, £10 per acre. 

 Vetches, Kale, Rape, &c., to be fed off, £8 per acre. 

 Feeding Stuffs, Manures and other stores in stock may be taken in 

 at cost. 



Working Accounts.— Having prepared a valuation, a series 

 of working accounts must be kept in ledger fashion, and it is 

 necessary to determine how many of these accounts shall be 

 opened. The following will prove to be sufficient for most 

 farms : — 



Manual labour. Farmyard manure. 



Horse labour. Milch cows. 



G^razing. Store cattle. 



Meadow hay. Breeding flock. 



Crops (3 accounts). Flying flock. 



Feeding stuffs. Pigs. 

 Artificial manures. Establishment, and 



Implements. Cash. 



Taking these accounts one by one they will be treated as 

 follows : — 



(1) Manual Labour. — AIJ the wages go into this account as 

 debits. As credits the wages of the horse keepers are transferred 

 quarterly to the horse working account, of the shepherd to the 

 flock account, of the stockman to cattle and pigs, as previously 

 explained. As regards the labourers, on the credit side a record 

 is transferred week by week from the time sheets of the days 

 spent on the various departm_ents of the farm, and quarterly 

 the cost of the labourers is divided in proportion to the days and 

 assigned to the respective accounts. 



(2) Horse Labour. — This accoimt is debited with the deprecia- 

 tion on the horse stock, with the labour of the horse keepers, 

 with the oats and other feeding stuffs, and with an item for 

 grazing. On the credit side are recorded the number of days 

 worked for the different departments. The total cost of the 

 horses is divided by the number of days so as to obtain the 

 cost per day, and the various departments are debited with 

 this cost per day multiplied by the number of days work they 

 have had, so that the account is cleared like the manual labour 

 account. The cost of the horse day is an important figure 

 for comparison from year to year. It should also be calculated 



