, 1877-02-16

wInV aruulfN nov " - NNAlNls uaNll-
a, @Cut shoTt your lo-.ss.- ana Z.
ia your prudis run %. TheFe b. %
hind of busineas uhere The adoption q
49, rules D. more noe.ieslth IN farm
i,g. hut there are many cultivators Who
do nol know When they are losing and
vhen they are gaining. The great
,.uuisite for succcss therefore 4 10 de-
sermine this vital point. We know the
owner of small farmland a.
doubtless every reader may know Of an
additional one-who thought he vas
GRADUALLY adding 10 his property. Bet
he kept no account with his farm, and
Aid not look over his list Of creditors.
Before he was prepared for il, his credi-
tors came upon him with claims which
he could not meet, and days were con-
sumed in examining his whereabout.
He discovered he had gone to sea with.
ont compass or log-book. Some Of his
operations or crops had been profitable,
and others had been losses or failures.
Leaving all to guess work, he forgot the
losses and remembered the profits. Had
he known precisely how to discriminate
one from the other, he could have adopt
ed the comprehensive rules Just cited, to
cut short his losses, and let his profits
run on.
The farmer, who determines to know
which from which, must in the FIRST
place measure all his fields. Until he
does this, he cannot know the amount
of labor required to till, the quantity of
seed required, nor the average product
per acre after harvesting the crop. -
The next thing is to set apart q few
minutes every day for recording the
operations of his farm in a systematic
manner. He must not leave this as the
last thing to be attended to, and liable
to be forgotten or neglected, but it must
be made as regular and essential as his
daily meals. If regarded as of little
consequence twill be neglected; if look
ed upon as of vital importance, on which
all his success hinges, he will be sure to
give it daily attention. The measure
ment of his fields, the accurate record
each day, under its appropriate page, of
the expenses or profit of each field, and
the weighing and measuring of every
thing which passes through his hands,
will in short time educate him into
regularity, system and order, which in
itself will be of great value through
life. In a short time, and with few
minutes Of care each day, his land will
become an experimental farm, on which
he will in time accumulate q vast
amount of accurate, reliable, and practi-
cal information worth more than ten
fold all it has cost him. -,
To enable the farmer to work with ac-
curacy, he should be provided with q
number of appliances. he should pro-
cure q tape-line or surveyors chain to
measure his fields; the former will be
more easily used and sufficient for all
ordinary purposes. A knowledge of
common arithmetic will enable him to
calculate the contents. By measuring
his wagon boxes and grauaries, he may
be readily ascertain their contents;
dividing the number of cubic inches
they contain by 2, ,748 will give the num-
Der Of heaped bushels. The granaries
should bemarked inside by several hori-
zontal lines, each numbering with the
contents up to that line. This viii show
approximately any added amount He
may also determine at least remotely,
how much hay he has in his barn, by
measuring the space it it'occupies. and al
lowing about 500 or $40 cubic feet for a
ton Of solid packed timothy, and 500 or
600fo clover. But the most important
assistant of all will be the platform scale
for weighing loads Of hay and grain,
and domestic animals. He may thus de-
termine the amo1nt Of hay more accur-
ately asit is drawn in than by merely
measuring; and he may know every
week whether the food and mode of
feeding his animals is proving source
Of profit or loss. He need no longer sell
nat animal by estimate. For measure
ing grain, hewill of course be supplied
with different sized measures.
Having supplied all these facilities, the
next thing is to provide distinct and
weu-arranged, systematic plan Of ac-
counts, with space allotted to each field,
animal, or division Of work. After some
practice few minutes will be enough at
the close Of each day to record the days
operations, and to place each item Of la
Dor or expenditure under its appropriate
mead as well as the receipts for sales.
In this way farming would cease to
become hap-hazard business, but would
@ soon arrive atdistinctness and, certainty.
Inc owner could easily ascertain where
ne Is losing and where he is gaining.
ne could then omit understandingly
nose operations or crops that continu-
vusly prove waste of capital, and retain
nose only which result in gain. He
could confidently adopt Ricardo's two
rules, to cut short his losses and let his
profits run on.
Inis course may be adopted on q small
iasm as well as a large one; and the
small farm although admitting less Of
expensive machinery, would have the
a9ssntage Of being wholly under the eye
~ .ne owner, instead of under the hired
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