Management of a Home Farm. 
265 
but in order that they be thus accurately kept, they should be 
promptly and regularly audited. For want of this examina- 
tion, how many lamentable break-downs have occurred in the 
agricultural world ! To be lax in this respect, is neither more 
nor less than to lead a man into temptation : and, even if the 
path of rectitude is nominally retained, entries and work will be 
allowed to get behind, and into anything but a creditable condition. 
Then when the day of reckoning comes — for it will come sooner 
or later — the results will not be to the credit of either party : 
and it is hard to say which is most to blame, the lax and careless 
employer, or the servant on whose shoulders the blame commonly 
falls. What a sad case that was, which figured lately in one of 
the Scottish courts, where it came out in evidence that a settle- 
ment or complete statement of accounts had never been required 
from the local manager for some five or six years, and though it 
was averred that vouchers for the payments did exist, yet private 
memorandum books, unposted up for that period, were all which 
could be produced ! 
There is another serious evil to be avoided, where the moneys 
of the principal are so placed that they can be freely used for 
personal purposes (if wished) by the individual through whose 
hands they pass. A right arrangement of accounts and of banking 
business would prevent this. 
It must, however, be added that accounts on such establishments 
should be settled promptly and regularly. All tradesmen's bills 
should be sent in quarterly at latest, and accounts of every other 
kind paid when presented. With regard to the custom prevalent 
in most localities, of " chap-money " as it is called in the south, 
or a "luck-penny" in the north, that is an item on which many 
misunderstandings have occurred. The easiest mode of dealing 
with it, is for the manager resolutely to set his face against it — 
to allow none, under any circumstances, and, if necessary, to let 
the buyers understand this before a bargain is struck. By giving 
no chap-money the chances of getting it are greatly diminished, 
but if he is able to present his accounts to his employer without 
vexatious and uncertain deductions of this kind, it certainly 
renders it much more pleasant. And if any is received, the 
principal will not in honour prefer a claim to the amount. 
The bailiff's " Journal," from which all cash transactions are 
posted, will be a private book only, and should show at any given 
moment the amount of cash in hand. The simplest arrangement 
is as follows : — Supposing the week to commence on Saturday, 
you carry forward the cash balances (if any) from the preceding 
week. Then, as payments or receipts occur, deduct or add the 
respective amounts — the balance thus showing, as above stated, 
the contents of the cash-box. On the following Saturday morn- 
ing, when the books are made up, it is only needful to take off 
