Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-02-09
Agricultural bookkeeping.

How many of our ordinary farmers
know anything about profit and loss at
the years end. And yet why should they
notS We have heard them remark; "lt
is great bother We know how much
money we had at the commencement of
the year, and how much at the end, and
what difference docs II makeY II makes
lust this difference. You know Just how
you stand. Just who owes you, and to
whom you are indebted. BY your books
you may tell just what each crop cost.
Nayl what each individual item in the
crop costs, and, therefore, are enabled TO
find at any time and for any series of
years the profit or loss on each crop, and
consequently what crop pays best for one
year or a series of years.
On large estates book keeping IL very
complicated, because the farmer, having
n threefold professionalism of producer,
manufacturer and merchant--his dealings
are large and necessarily more compli-
Gated than that of the ordinary farmer.
One quarter of one per cent of the gross
sales of any farm would pay for keeping
the books, and this cost would decrease
/ proportionally with the increase of the
! size of the farm, until the estate became
| large enough to employ the entire time
!
pay the cost ten or twenty times.
We have before lis at this writing detail
cd statement of the cost of raising crop of
/ 1t0 acres of wheat, including every item,
| from plowing the land, to the thrcshing,
| cleaning and delivery of the grain to the
buyer, showing each individual action
connected with tho crop. The average
| profit was $5,03 4i-t00 per acre. If the
/ Farmer should keep such an account from
year to year he would soon see what crop,
| or animals pay the best, and be enabled
| to give his attention exclusively to that
! class of crops or animals. There is no
| doubt but the want of proper farm books
| cost the Farmer rs much as they would
/ tho bueinosS man, ovon In Tho ono diroe
| ton alone, one trouble has been that
/ the books prepared for the farmer, under
| so-caled appropriate headings, have been
/ faulty and intricate in the extreme. For
! the ordinary farmer, TO begin with, all
| that is wanted is a simple account book,
with space for complete inventory, with
values of everything on the farm, from
the land down Though the improvements
stock, fixtures, to the most simple imple
ment on the premises. The value of these
is the capital employed. Now every
thing that costs money the farm Is debtor
] w, anu Wlldl DTlhgS lnohcy Hlusl Dc CdI
ried to its credit, If this is done on sep
arate pages balance may be shown a
any time, whether DIR or cr., and soon il
will become easy to separate this into diff
ferent heads, showing what the family re
ceives and produces, the cost and produc
ton of each field and crop, and by a littll
practice, the farmer will soon be enabled
to know what anything and everything
costs about the farm, even to the minutes
details. Bookkeeping is the ground
work to success in trade, and in no in
dustry in life Is It more necessary than tC
the farmer, and no farmers son should b,
considered competent TO manage farm
until he understands this important par
of farm economy. - Western RUTd.