AGRICULTURE. 
Mon must be drawn between the gross and net 
contents of the field; as, otherwise, in the 
comparison of husbandry, that field might be 
concluded the most advantageous which had 
the least border, and merely for that reason, 
the cultivation practised in the other being, 
in fact, more profitable. But, detail on this 
subject is here impracticable, and we must 
be satisfied with observing that without cor- 
rectness of data for a comparison, the con- 
clusions formed will constitute only a cata- 
logue of errors. The, article of sundry ex- 
penses must universally have place in a well 
regulated account, and should include what- 
ever payments concern the farm in general, 
(and are not included in any distinct article) 
and not any object or field in particular. 
With respect to the article of wear and tear, 
the arable lands will swallow up by far 
the greater proportion of these expenses. 
As they principally attach to the team, the 
proper mode of setting them down is, after 
ascertaining them at so much per pound on 
the team account, to charge thus proportion- 
ally per acre. The land appropriated for 
feeding grass will have very little concern in 
them, and that for mowing by no means 
much. To settle the expense of the team 
work, the green food for the teams in sum- 
mer, the-hay and oats consumed, the shoeing 
and farriering, their real decline in value, 
the pay for attendance, are each to be item- 
ed down separately; and to apportion the 
whole expense to the work executed by 
them, a day-book must contain an account 
of this work every day in the year, with a 
specification of the field or business they 
were engaged in. At the end of the year a 
clear result may be obtained, by propor- 
tionally dividing the amount of the expense 
among the work. The article manure should 
be arranged under the head farm-yard, and 
is one of the most complex and difficult. 
This account should be charged with the 
price of the straw used in the yard, at what 
it could be sold for, deducting the carriage, 
and it should be credited with the price per 
week of keeping the cattle. All the labour 
employed in turning over the dung and 
cleaning the yard, is charged to this account. 
The total expense of the dung when carted 
to the land, is divided by the number of 
loads, giving so much per load : it should be 
charged the following year on the lands on 
which it is spread, although the benefit of it 
is not confined to that single year: but 
keeping open the account for a longer time 
would expose to great and inextricable con- 
fusion. One of the most complex of all 
accounts is that of grass lands fed. To re- 
duce the difficulty, one account should be 
opened for mowing ground, to which all ex- 
penses of rent, tithe, taxes, &c. should be 
carried for evety field mown ; while its cre- 
dit consists of the value, at themaiket price, 
of all the mown produce, as delivered to the 
cattle of any description. The after grass 
on these fields must be estimated at a cer- 
tain sum per acre, and charged to the ac- 
count of feeding ground. To this account 
must be carried all the debits of the fields 
fed, while the credit should consist of all the 
food of the team at a certain weekly esti- 
mate ; and of any cattle taken to joist. The 
account for sheep, dairy, and fatting beasts, 
is each to be charged its peculiar expenses ; 
wages, ’ hurdles, shepherd, &e. for the first; 
fuel and straw, &c. for the second ; and the 
purchase money of lean stock for fatting 
beasts. Amidst all this minuteness and 
complexity of account, order must be pro- 
duced. The cattle, cows, and sheep, have 
turnips, with respect to which the estimate 
of them must be made, not at what they 
cost, but at what they would sell for eaten 
off the field, as they cost more than the 
latter price, and were intended to repay in 
the crops for which they prepare. The 
books should be every year balanced, about 
the season at which the farm was entered 
upon ; and to avoid arbitrary valuation, the 
old year’s accounts must be continued open 
considerably after the new ones have com- 
menced, till the fatting beasts and the corn are 
sold, and those points decided on which the 
profit or loss of the former year depended. 
By these means conjectures may be, in a 
great degree, precluded, but not altoge- 
ther, as these must extend to the estimate 
of the live stock bought and sold within the 
year, and to the implements of husbandry. 
The stock must be estimated every year ; 
and in settling this estimate, their worth at 
the very time of its being made, that is, the 
price they would then sell for, must be set 
down. With respect to fatting beasts, cows, 
and sheep, this proceeding must equally 
take place. Every year, also, implements 
should be valued, and the balance must he 
carried, where alone it is applicable, to the 
general head of wear and tear. 
The minuteness and accuracy necessary 
for this or any other efficient mode of ac- 
count, may deter many from its adoption, 
and undoubtedly has this effect on thousands. 
The want of attention, however, to this sub- 
ject has, unquestionably, been the cause to 
which many individuals may justly ascribe 
their failure in this art, and has operated ex- 
tremely to check the progress of it in gene- 
