Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-05-11
FARM ACCOUNTS.


How soon the mechanic. the merchant, the
manufacturer-in short every business man
would get entangled IN intermnable difficult
ties, did thev not have system of book
keeping, by which they could at any time
ascertain the true state of their business
operations. Now if these classes are unable
to proceed without it, how much more
necessary for the farmer to practice some
system of keeping accounts with
business a good deal more complicated
than either; yet how few do it. Ask a
mechanic how much sleigh, plow or
cultvator has cost, and he can tell you to
penny, for he has kept an exact account oi
1t, which he has to do in order to know how
10 sell 1t, and make living by his business.
Ask a farmer how much a bushel Of corn
costs MIN this year, or how much that year
! ling or colt has cost him to raise 1t, he Will
say "Oh | ask go much for II don t know
how much it cost me. And so 1t is with
every thing Not one farmer in ten knows
the cost of any thing he produces. TO this
simple act of negligence may be traced the
causc Of two-thirds Of the failures in farming,
for if the farmers knew the cost of produc
ing every article, they would then know what
crops paid the best on each ones particular
were of no profit to them. Some farms are
most productive for one kind of grain and
some for another, but we do not know which
these kinds are, without some method of
ascertaining the cost of each But, says one,
it takes too much time. All a mistake my
friend | have done it for several years, and
have never taken any time that was necessary
TO be devoted to other business. Every farm
!
which had better be applied TO that purpose
than doing great many things which they
now do on rainy days and other leisure hours.
1t Is not necessary 10 have complete set Of
books ike a merchant, one being sufficient.
Take a common account book. costing about
half a dollar, and take a certain space for
each field, making it debtor on the left and
creditor on the right side, in this manner
Corn-Field.
Dr.. CT.
De-. Dolls. Cts. o.. Date. Dolls. Cts.
Whenever you do any thing to your crop,
put down on the DR.. side the actual worth
Of it, and thus continue to do until your crop
is secured, and you know how much you have
expended on it. Then place on the Cr. side
the actual value of your entire crop, corn
fodder. pumpkins and all that is Of any worth.
Then balance the accounts some evening, and
you will know just how much your corn has
cost per bushel, and whether you have made
or lost on it.
As great many farmers are wholly unac-
quainted with any system of bookkeeping,
but would like to try it, will make an
extract from my book for the past year
which will show what l think to be a very
good system of keeping farm accounts. and at
the same time give the result Of an experiment
IN raising corn.
Nv corn field consisted of four acres, two
Of which | ploughed IN the fall. The soil,
slatey loan, was very uniform, and was all
manured alike, with the exception of the
blowing in the fall, and will state here that
the two acres ploughed in the fall gave seven
and a half bushels more corn than the other,
the one giving 50 and the other 695 bushels
OF shelled corn.