Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-05-12
TbeDtrurolrt 9Benit.
BRATTLEBoRo:
FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 70, 1876.


Farm Accounts.
The present may be as good time as
any to recur to duty which can hardly be
urged too often upon the farming commu-
nity-the duty of keeping careful aud sys-
tematic accounts of all expenditures and
receipts. Although the calendar year be-
gins with the first of January, and the time
for commencing financial transactions, as
we'll as for forming good resolutions in
general, corresponds with that date, the
farmers year com mences practically with
the opening of Spring, and with the first
preparations for regular farm work. There
is All old proverb which maintains that ut
is never too late to mend" So with this
matter of farm accounts. 1t would be bet
tor to begin in midsummer than not TO be-
gin at all, because whatever mistakes and
inaccuracies might result would speedily
correct themselves, and good habit would
be formed which would gradually system
atize all transactions of the farm, and of
business. But farmer who commences
now, and Systematically notes down all
outgoes and all incomes, will be in time TO
secure very fair statement of the work of
the year, and by the 3lst of December next
can tell whether his labor has been profita-
BILE, and what per cent. 1t has yielded upon
the capital invested. More than this, he.
will be able 10 determine which crops have
yielded the best returns, and will be able
TO regulate intelligently his operations for
the ensuing year. Instead of estimating
the profits of a crop by the total yield, or
the gross receipts for it, he can tell within
few cents and sometimes within fraction
of cent what every bushel has cost him,
and from these figures as basis can deter
mine the exact net profit. Alter method
for keeping such accounts has been once
clearly fixed upon, the jottiug down items
of labor and results from day to day will
require an Insignificant expenditure of la
Dor aud time. In households where there
are children some of the necessary figur-
ing may be safely and wisely entrusted to
them. They will feel greater interest in
such work than in the problems which
their arithmetic contains, and 1t will be OF
more practical benefit to them because 1t
will serve as an introduction TO the actual
duties oflife
AS to the best method of keeping ac-
SOuhtSj pAODaOly ihOoh ldA mSAS NhA w oOaO
10 determine for themselves by acting on
the suggestions contained in their circum-
stances and surroundings. There are reg
ular account books, we believe, drawn up,
ruled, and divided in such a way as to as
slst the farmer in registering in their prop
err place all the transactions of the farm.
Just how much help, If any, is to be got
from such books can be determined only
by experiment. But, other things being
equal, the simplest method will be the best;
and the less the matter is mixed up with
the technicalities of regular book keeping
the better. A farmer who has tried the ex-
pertinent of keeping regular accounts and
finds it satisfactory and profitable in every
way, recommends the following general
system. Each field should be numbered,
and the number of acres it contains mark
ed down in an account book. Everything
that is done for each field should be charg-
ed against it-labor, seed, manure, inter-
est, taxes, etc. Everything got from each
field should be set down TO its favor, wheth-
er sold or used on the farm or in the fami-
ly, at the regular market value. When
permanent improvements are made the
cost should be divided in the accounts so
as to distribute the burden in right proper
ton over the several years in which the
field or farm will reap the benefit of them.
At the end of each year an inventory
should be taken of stock, farming imple-
ments, etc., SO that the account may DO
properly opened Tor the year ensuing and
whatever gains or losses there have been
in stock, and whatever wear and tear is
perceptible in the farming tools should be
reckoned in balancing accounts.
A system like the above, with such mod
ifications and changes as may be suggested
by individual experience, will be found to
greatly lessen the worry and anxiety Of
farm life, and to pay for itself many times
over in the definite knowledge it will yield
as to the exact proportions of profit and
loss. A business man who fails to follow
out some regular method OF bookkeeping,
and to ascertain from time TO time exactly
where he stands, is sure of encountering
bankruptcy and ruin; and the farmer,
though he may be enabled TO avert such
disaster by the relative caution and safety
Of his transactions, can never attain the
prosperity which belongs TO him by trust
ing blindly to luck, and neglecting to keep
adequate and systematic records Of his
dealings.