10 BULLETIN 225, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
THE JOURNAL. 
An eight-column journal (Form 6) has been provided with the 
following captions: 
DEBIT. 
CREDIT. 
Sundries. 
Sundries. 
Fruit. 
Merchandise. 
Merchandise. 
Commission. 
Fruit P. & L. 
Fruit P. & L. 
The debit and credit Sundries columns are for all items other than 
those for which columns have been provided. 
The Fruit column on the debit side and the Commission column 
on the credit side of the journal were introduced to accommodate 
the journal entries covering charges for commission, icing, and 
brokerage as shown in the explanation of the car envelope. All 
items chargeable to Fruit account are extended in the Fruit column; 
items of commission to be credited to Commission account hi the 
Commission column and items of icing and brokerage in the credit 
Sundries column. The advantage of the method of collecting these 
items in columns and posting the total to the ledger, over that of 
posting them in detail direct from the car envelope, is obvious. 
All transactions involving the purchase and sale of merchandise are 
journalized, the debit Merchandise column being used for purchases 
and the credit Merchandise column for sales. 
The debit and credit columns, Fruit P. & L. (Fruit Profit and 
Loss), were introduced for the specific purpose of taking care of the 
profits or losses sustained on fruit which is bought outright by the 
association. 1 
i Owing to certain local conditions and customs, the Exchange in which this system was tried out buys 
some of the crops outright from the growers, while the others are handled on a commission basis. It may 
also happen that some cars will contain both fruit bought and fruit to be handled on commission. By 
opening this account to hold all items of profit and loss, the Fruit account is kept clear of these elements, 
and the equilibrium of the two sides of the Fruit account will show that returns have been made in full 
to the growers for all proceeds received for their shipments. A credit balance appearing on Fruit account 
at the end of a month would indicate money received but for which no payments as yet had been made to 
the shippers. This method also shows the profit made or loss sustained on each shipment bought outright. 
Except where such a condition exists — that is, where the exchange handles shipments on some other than 
a regular commission basis and an element of profit or loss arises— these columns will be found 
superfluous. 
