,, sW «» THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



Vol, XV. No. 6. 



SEPTEMBER, 1908. 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 

 C. S. Orwin, F.S.I. 



When one considers the amount of attention that has been 

 of late years bestowed upon agricultural matters, some surprise 

 is occasioned that the question of farm book-keeping has 

 commanded so little notice. In any other business it is recog- 

 nised that an accurate system of accounts forms almost the 

 basis of success, because by this means alone can the trader 

 discover the most profitable lines upon which to develop his 

 undertaking. In this respect the farmer is, of course, at a 

 certain disadvantage in comparison with the purely commercial 

 man, since his sphere of operations is limited by the capabilities 

 of his land, by the resources of his district, and by his own 

 particular bent ; but, even so, it must be obvious that accurate 

 information as to where his profits and his losses really occur 

 would be of the greatest service to him. 



Possibly the majority of agriculturists have not had an 

 opportunity of learning the principles of book-keeping, upon 

 which accurate accountancy is based, but at the agricultural 

 colleges throughout the country, where the subject is systemati- 

 cally taught, and where so many farmers of the future are 

 trained, a great opportunity is missed. At these institutions 

 the farm accounts would seem to be arranged with the 

 object of passing the auditor, rather than with that of giving 

 information about the business, and the embryo farmer is 

 encouraged to spend an infinite amount of time and trouble in 

 finding out no more than he might learn in a few minutes -from 

 an annual valuation and a glance at his bank book. Whatever 

 variations the individuality of the teacher may suggest, the 

 system, so far as I have been able to ascertain, is uniformly 

 (4057) 2 C 



