Farmers^ Accounts. 
423 
should learn first to keep a cash-book, and ledger, which would be 
a true record of all his transactions, and from which profit and loss 
accounts of a reliable character could be made. Until farmers put 
this system into practice they can have no accurate knowledge of 
how they are progressing or where losses occur. It is tlie keeping 
of accurate accounts, with a proper cost-book, that enables our 
manufacturers to compete successfully with unrestricted importa- 
tions of every kind. It is the acknowledged and universally 
adopted principle upon which competition is met, and farmers as 
producers of commodities subject to this intense competition can 
claim no exemption from the general rule if they wish to succeed 
in their occupation. It will of course give them some additional 
trouble, but this is a necessary consequence of increased compe- 
tition which all producing industries have had to contend with. 
Farm accounts of cost are difiicult to keep, but nevertheless they 
can be kept, so as to be of great practical value. Balance-sheets 
are easily made, and are necessary to show the net result of the 
year's transactions, but more than this is wanted. Profit and loss 
accounts of cattle are also easily kept, when live weight is adopted 
as a basis of calculation, but not otherwise, if the cause of loss is to 
be ascertained. 
Referring to the cattle trade, which is the largest and one of 
the most important of agricultural industries, no satisfactory cost- 
book (record of accounts) can be kept without introducing the 
element of weight as the basis of calculation. It is the only fact 
that can be ascertained on the subject, and my proposition is to 
substitute this fact for a mere matter of opinion, the variations of 
opinions being such that they cannot be represented by figures. 
It is not sufficient for a banker's account to show ivhen losses 
have been sustained, if it does not a^so show where and hoio they 
have been incurred. It is this latter knowledge that is required, 
in order that a repetition of the loss may be met, and if possible 
avoided. 
The proposition to base calculations on the live weight of cattle 
is a perfectly practicable one, and not new ; but in England the 
proper means have not been provided for carrying it out. Farmers 
are good judges of the quality and breed of stock best suited to 
the land they occupy. This their experience teaches them. But 
they want more accurate knowledge of the weight they are buying 
and the weight they are selling, or in other words the quantity to 
be bought or sold, which is a distinct question from quality, and 
the answer to which can only be given them by the scales. A 
weighing machine is as necessary an implement on a stock farm as 
a plough on an arable farm, if any accurate knowledge of the size, 
growth, and value of stock is to be obtained. 
My own experience is that if the right kind of stock be selected, 
they will put on 27 or 28 live stone (14 lb.) farm weight during 
the period of summer grazing. I give from 206'. to 25s. worth of 
cake in the two months before they are sold. The whole of this 
27 or 28 live stones gain in weight is not the grazier's to sell, as 
