214 
THE CULTIVATOR 
July 
FARM ACCOUNTS. 
Mr. Editor — I observed in your January number, a 
form for keeping farm accounts, presented by E. V. W. 
Dox. Allow me to present one which I have used for 
the last two years, and which I find very simple and 
convenient. My system in regard to naming the lots, 
is similar to that of Mr. Dox, only I prefer fetters for 
this purpose, and use figures to designate the subdivi- 
sions, for it is found very convenient to divide each lot 
into two, three, or four smaller parts, in order that a 
separate account may be kept of each sort of grain. 
The complete account of these sub-divisions may after¬ 
wards be so arranged as to exhibit the account of the 
lot which they comprise. On the first page of the book 
should be an accurate map of the farm, with the title 
of each division and subdivision, and the number of 
acres in each. But for the form. 
May 
Man’s Work. 
Horse’s Work. 
Weather. 
Remarks, 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
| d. plow B. 1; 1 d. cart manure 
D. 3; | d. repair fence. 
|d. plow B. 1; 1 d. cart ma¬ 
nure. 
1 d. cart manure, Jd. spread ma¬ 
nure, | d. plow D. 3. 
1 d. plow D .3; -g d. spread ma- 
manure; 1 d. harrow D. 3. ... 
2-1 d. plant corn D. 3. 
1 d. plant corn; 1 d. harrow B. 1; 
4 d. sow B. 1. 
2 d. plant corn. 
(1st) | d.plow. 
(2d) ldrawl2Pds ma. 
<s 1 d. draw 15 loads 
manure. 
(1st) l d. plow. 
(2d) 1 d. cart 14lds.ma. 
te 1 d. harrow. 
(1st) 1 d. plow. 
(2d) Id. harrow, 
Pleasant—S.wind, 
Fair—warm 
(< 
Cloudy and warm. 
Pleasant. 
Cloudy and cool. 
Very warm 
Commence draw manure; turn¬ 
ed cows into pasture A. 
B. 1 plowed, 3^ days; apple 
blossoms appear. 
Commence plow D.3; very dry 
—man’r carted, 41 Ids. on 2 ac. 
D. 3 plowed 1| days. 
“ harrowed 1 day. 
Commence plant corn. 
Sowed B. 1—81 bush. oats. 
Corn planted, 5|d; -i b, seed— 
W., 4 acr., s’d steep’d in saltp’r. 
This account should occupy two pages of a common 
quarto or folio book, and for convenience, these pages 
should be opposite one another, so that they may both 
be open to the view at once. The weather column and 
column of remarks will thus fall on the right hand 
page. 
In the column of horses’ work you see I designate 
my teams as 1st and 2nd. The farmer by practice will 
find that he may use many abbreviations which will 
facilitate the making of his daily entries. In this form 
are no names to be written every day as in Mr. Dox’s 
form, but merely an entry is to be made in the column 
of “ Man’s Work,” of the time and labor. If you have 
a boy in your employ, you may readily reduce his la¬ 
bor to man’s work, and enter it in the same column. 
The column of “ horses’ work ” is quite essential. 
By this you may not only know the kind of labor your 
horses perform each day in the year, and the number 
of days they are employed, but having kept an accurate 
account of their expenses, you may readily calculate 
what each day’s labor has cost you, and consequently 
know how much each grain account is debtor for their 
work. Few farmers, I apprehend, have a correct idea 
of the cost of horses’ labor, and 3 r et a farm account 
must necessarily be quite imperfect without such know¬ 
ledge. 
Next is the weather columns. The weather has so 
much influence on the growth and product of the far¬ 
mer’s grain, that he cannot help feeling a lively inte¬ 
rest in keeping this column, especially as it costs him 
so little extra labor. He has, moreover, the means of 
knowing what was the weather at any particular sea¬ 
son, or any day of the year, and by a comparison of 
the weather column with the column of “ remarks”— | 
for in this last he should note how the crops thrive—hej 
may learn the exact effect of almost every change of J 
weather on the plants at those particular stages of their 
growth, and thus he will learn more thoroughly the 
physiology of plants, aud will be enabled perhaps, in 
some respects, to profit by the knowledge thus ob¬ 
tained. 
The last column is for “ remarks on the state of the 
crops, &c., and it may be used to make memoranda of 
various events connected with farm operations, which 
would otherwise be forgotton. 
Once a year, the farmer should post into another 
book, or perhaps on the last pages of the book posted, 
a complete Dr. and Cr. of each crop, a Dr. and Cr. of 
“ stock account,” (including new buildings, &c.,) a 
“ fuel account,” “ horse account,” &c., &c. In short, 
a farmer should ascertain by his books whence comes 
his profit and whence his loss, and learn, from the same, 
to increase the former and avoid the latter. 
Yours, &c., (4. De Witt Elwoop. 
Cowasselon Springs, Smith-field. March , 1846. 
WOOL FOR ENGLISH MARKETS. 
The New-York Journal of Commerce contains an 
article on preparing wool for the English markets, in 
which are valuable directions to those engaged, or who 
are desirous of engaging in the business. It was writ¬ 
ten by Hamilton Gay, Esq., who for the past year 
was largely engaged in the export of wool. His ad¬ 
vertisement in relation to the purchase of wool will be 
found in this number. 
He states that wool from this country is very injuri¬ 
ously affected in foreign markets from its unclean con¬ 
dition. On this account, his export of the article last 
year resulted in a loss of about a penny English per 
pound, amounting to about $6000. The wool, it is 
said—“ contains too much oil, yolk, and dirt. The 
sheep are generally washed with too little care, and run 
too long after washing before shearing. A large por¬ 
tion of the wool from this cause must pass through the 
hands of those who sort it and scour it in soap and wa¬ 
ter, before it is sold to the manufacturers. The wool 
itself is of superior staple, and while upon the sheep is 
inferior to no other in the world, of equal grade: and it 
may be safely stated, that every pound of oil, or other 
worthless substance, will, in the English markets, de¬ 
duct from the value of the wool containing it, the price, 
of at least two pounds of wool. English manufacturers 
and staplers before purchasing, open a portion of the 
fleeces, and examine carefully, not only the fineness, 
but also the strength of the staple, and its condition 
throughout.” 
Mr. Gay thinks that great pains should be taken in 
the first place to wash the sheep thoroughly, and that 
the sheep should be sheared as soon as they become 
dry. He directs that in tying 1 up the fleeces—“the 
loose locks, clippings, and tags, and every thing un¬ 
clean, or of an inferior quality, and the coarse wool 
from the thighs, if there be any, should be wholly re¬ 
jected, and the fleeces tied up firmly so as to keep their 
shape, and show, as is customary, the best part of the 
fleece on the outside.” 
He also very properly observes that—“ sheep should 
be kept as nearly as possible in uniformly good health 
and flesh, because every portion of the staple or fibre of 
the wool which grows while the sheep is very poor 
from disease or want of food, has so little strength as to 
break in working; and if this weak growth takes place 
in the fall of the year, it destroys the fleece for many 
purposes.” 
The directions in regard to packing and sacking ap¬ 
pear to be important: 
cc In England each manufacturer devotes his attention 
to one particular description of goods, for which his 
machinery has been constructed, and he makes no 
|other. The makers of each kind of goods have estab- 
