1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
19 
shall take into consideration the amount of capital 
employed, the number of acres in the farm, and the 
profits gained ; the object being to honor the farm 
which is best managed as a farm. To be awarded 
November 15th, 1879. 
Eleventh .—To create a greater interest among 
farmers in the adornment of their homesteads. For 
the farm which shall show the neatest roadsides, 
the greatest neatness about the farm buildings, 
and the most tastefully arranged grounds and build¬ 
ings, $30.00.—In awarding this premium, the com¬ 
mittee shall take into consideration the fact that 
those improvements which are produced at the 
smallest cost, and without interference with farm 
work, are the most desirable. The use of native 
trees, shrubs and elimbers, especially those indige¬ 
nous to the locality, in adorning the farm grounds, 
will be considered by the committee,and other things 
b'eing equal, preference will be given to the place 
where natives are employed rather than exotics. 
Twelvth .—For the best essay on the past, pres¬ 
ent, and future of “Orange County Farming,” 
$20.00. For the second best ditto, $10.00.—These 
essays should have special reference to the needs 
and development of the farm interests of the County. 
Essays to be sent to the Secretary of the Society on 
or before the 15th day of September, 1879, without 
a signature, but accompanied by a scaled envelope 
containing the name of the writer and title of the 
article. The prizes to be awarded by a committee 
of three appointed by the Society, and the awards 
to be announced at the annual fair. The committee 
to have the right of rejecting any or all of the 
essays offered, and the liberty of publishing any or 
all of them in the county papers, or otherwise. 
We publish these special premium offers in full, 
as they contain some suggestive ideas that perhaps 
may be useful in other sections, both to the of¬ 
ficers of agricultural societies themselves, and to 
other generous men of wealth who,like the donor of 
these premiums, may desire to benefit agriculture. 
A Simple System of Farm Accounts. 
SECOND PAPER. 
A small ledger is necessary, ruled with double 
money-columns, paged and indexed. A convenient 
plaD is to give 10 to 30 pages to each account, so 
that it can be carried on for a year or two with¬ 
out befng transferred to a distant page. A few 
accounts only will be needed in ordinary cases. 
These will be as follows: A general farm or stock 
account; an account for each field, “ Field No. 1,” 
“Field No. 2,” and so on ; a dairy account; one each 
for sheep, pigs, poultry, grain, hay, and fodder (the 
last three may be kept together), general expenses, 
labor, and house expenses. If others are needed 
for special cases, they can easily be added; but a 
complicity of accounts will confuse those not used 
to book-keeping. To begin, an inventory of stock 
should be taken, and no other time is better for this 
purpose than the end or the beginning of a year. 
The inventory should include everything—land, 
tools, and stock of all kinds, and these should be 
valued at what, they are worth or have cost. For 
example, the first inventory may run in this way : 
6t acres of land cost. $6,500 
3 horses. 375 
14 cows. 800 
7 yearlings and calves. .... 120 
2 Berkshire pigs. 45 
124 head of poultry. 62 
1 mowing-machine. 90 
and so on, enumerating every article, great and 
small, on the farm, including the amount spent for 
crops in the ground. The total amount is then en¬ 
tered to the General Farm Account in the debtor 
i(Dr.) or left hand column of the ledger, as follows : 
GENERAL FARM ACCOUNT. 
1878 
11 Dr. 
Cr. 1 
Jan 
1 To value of land and stock $9,275 
88 
| 
Each item is also entered in its own special ac¬ 
count on the Dr. side, each being charged with the 
cost of what appertains to it. Then the general 
account will be the total of all the balances of 
each yearly settlement, and will show the exact 
condition ot affairs at such settlement. For those 
who understand “ double entry,” it is easy to prac¬ 
tice without using a journal—each entry—that is 
charged to any one account, always having its cor¬ 
responding credit in the other appropriate account. 
For exampie, when 20 bushels of corn, oats, or feed 
are ground, or a stack of hay is used for the cows, 
the Dairy account would be charged with the value 
of the grain and hay, and the feed account would 
be credited with the same. Previously the Feed ac¬ 
count would have been charged with the value of 
the grain, hay, etc., when harvested, and the fields 
from which these had been gathered would have 
been credited with it at the cost price. Thus each 
account would represent the business of the year 
in that particular. If this is done carefully, and 
without error, at the end of the year the sum of 
the balances of the accounts should be exactly the 
same as the sum of the general farm account at the 
beginning of the year. A specimen account is given : 
DAIRY ACCOUNT. 
1878. 
l)r. 
Cr. 
Jan. 
1 
Value of 14 cows. 
$800 
31 
4 tons of hay used. 
48 
40 bushels of graiu ground 
16 
SO 
Feb. 
7 
2 tons of bran, and freight. 
24 
75 
One pit mangels,400 bushels 
20 
00 
28 
Two months’ milk sold.... 
$244 
80 
48 lbs. butter.. 
12 
00 
2 months’ wages, dairyman 
60 
00 
Here are the items in corresponding accounts: 
GRAIN AND HAY ACCOUNT. 
1878. 1 
Dr. 
i Cr • 1 
Jan. 1 Stock on band. 
$640 
3l|Hay used for dairy. 
$48 00 
1 1 Grain for dairy. 
16 80 
CASH ACCOUNT. 
Dr. 
Cr. 
1878. 
Balance cash on hand. 
$122 
40 
Feb. 
7 
Cash paid for bran. 
$24 
75 
28 
J. M.. 2mos.wages.1 
Cash for milk. 
244 
80 
60 
00 
do. butter.| 
-12 
001 
FIELD NO. 1. 
1878. 
Dr. 
1 Cr . 
Jan. 
1 
To 2,848 bus. roots on hand 
$142 
40 
Feb. 
7 
By 400 bus. for cows. 
20 
CO 
The balance of each account, the cash account, 
as well, at any time, should show the amount or 
the value of the stock on hand; so that it can be 
seen each month how matters stand with every de¬ 
partment. The full account for “ Field No. 1 ” is 
given below as a specimen : 
field no. 1. 
July. 
Oct. 
Nov 
Dec. 
1877. 1 
May i 4 Plowing 3 acres. 
10 1,800 lbs. mangel manure... 
12 lbs. seed. 
12 Harrowing and sowing. 
June 10 6 days’ weeding. 
12 1 day cultivating. 
1 8 days’ weeding. 
7 H day cultivating . 
22 1 day cultivating. 
30 4 days’ pulling roots. 
10 8 days’ pulling and pitting. 
Sundry expenses. 
Dairy account, 432 bushels. 
31 2,848 bushels in pits. 
Dr. 
| 
Cr. 
$6 
00 
100 
80 
9 
00 
3 
50 
6 
00 
2 
00 
8 
00 
3 
00 
2 
00 
4 
00 
9 
75 
9 
95 
$21 
142 
$164 
00 
$164 
00 
The item $142.40 is carried on as the balance to 
begin the account for the new year, and also figures 
as so much stock on hand in the general farm ac¬ 
count. It is seen by this account that the roots cost 
nearly 5 cents per bushel; the $9.95 includes little 
unimportant items not easily entered in detail. 
Just as in business, the small sums which go, a 
few cents at a time, are lumped in a “ petty cash 
account.” Or this amount may be entered as 
profit, and carried to a “ profit and loss ” account. 
A Capacious Refrigerator. 
A large cool room is often greatly needed on the 
farm, when neither a cellar or a double-walled dairy 
house will serve the purpose. An Illinois sub¬ 
scriber sends a sketch of an ice-house, with a room 
in one side, that will answer this purpose. Similarly 
arranged ice-houses are not uncommon in some 
sections, and have been figured in the American 
Agriculturist. The engraving represents a section 
of the building, with a room partitioned off in such 
a manner that it has ice on three sides and the top, 
and its floor is below the surface a few feet, in order 
to take advantage of the coolness of the earth. 
The double wall of the ice-house extends in front 
of the open room, and the door is protected by a 
porch. A shallow cellar under the floor of the ice¬ 
house admits ventilation by the passage of cool air 
under the ice, and thence oil through a flue. The 
ICE-HOUSE AND REFRIGERATOR. 
floor and the ceiling of the room slope, to secure 
drainage, as shown. An ice-house constructed in 
this manner provides a room that may be used for 
setting milk, or for cooling and keeping milk for 
sending to market; for storing butter, meats, etc. 
Measuring and Marking Rafters. 
The difficulties of fitting rafters may be overcome 
by the following simple means: Take a strip of 
wood 2 inches wide, 24 to 30 inches long, and 1 inch 
thick ; saw a slit in the center a quarter of an inch 
wide, as shown in the engraving ; mark the inches 
and other divisions of the scale upon each edge. 
Make two strips of brass or steel 1 inch wide and 
Vie thick, and 6 inches or more in length. Connect 
these to the long strip by means of thumb screws. 
To use the gauge, lay it upon a square, as shown, 
with the zero (0) of the scale on the figure of the 
long arm of the square which shows half the width 
of the building in feet; and place the edge of the 
gauge upon the figure of the short arm of the 
square, which marks the pitch of the roof. Thus, 
for a building 28 feet wide, and with a roof pitch 
of 10 feet, the 0 should come on the long arm and 
the edge of the gauge meet 10 on the short arm. 
The figures on the gauge will mark the length, 17 
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING RAFTERS. 
ft. 3 in., of the top side of the rafter. Then by 
tightening the thumb screws, and fixing the metal 
guides even with the arms of the square, the bevel 
of the ends of the rafter will be given. A rafter 
cut according to the gauge is represented at the 
top of the illustration. The projection of the 
rafter beyond the eave of the roof is to be added 
to the above length. This simple apparatus will 
enable any one handy with tools to cut rafters of 
the proper length and shape, and it will also faci¬ 
litate the operations of an experienced workman. 
Canning Fruit in England.— A correspon¬ 
dent of the “Journal of Horticulture,” (London) 
says: “For Gooseberries, Currants, Damsons, etc., 
to each 3 lbs. of fruit, add 1 lb. of loaf sugar, and 
one teacup of water to each pound of fruit. Put 
all in a preserving pan and let the ingredients come 
to the boiling point. Have ready jars in which aui- 
