The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-02-23
Making Money by Farming.

Gentleman, has given TWO rules, hereto
fore mentioned occasionally in these
columns, by following which any one
may acquire more or less wealth, name
ly: l., "Cut short your losses;" and 2,
"Let your profits run on" There is no
kind of business where the adoption of
these rules is more needed than in farm
ing; but there are many cultivators who
do not know when they are losing and
when they are gaining The great
requisite for success therefore is to de-
termine this vital point. We know the
owner of small farmland as
doubtless every reader may know of an
additional one-who thought he was
gradually adding to his property. But
he kept no account with his farm, and
did not look over his list of creditors.
Before he was prepared for it, 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.
out 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
lie 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 few
minutes every day for recording the
operations of his farm in 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 it will 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 a 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 a
number of appliances. He should pro-
cure 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 granaries, he may
be readily ascertain their contents
dividing the number of cubic inches
they contain by ,748 will give the num-
Der of heaped bushels. The granaries
should be marked inside by several hori-
zontal lines, each numbering with the
contents vp to that line. This will 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 occupies. and al
lowing about 500 or $40 cubic feet for a
ton of solid packed timothy, and 500 or
500 for 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 amount of hay more accur-
ately as it is drawn in than by merely
measuring; and he may know every
week whether the food and mode of
feeding his animals is proving u source
of profit or loss. He need no longer sell
fat animal by estimate. For measur-
ing grain, he will of course be supplied
with different sized measures.
Having supplied all these facilities, the
next thing is to provide distinct and
well-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 day s
operations, and to place each item of la
Dor or expenditure under its appropriate
head as well as the receipts for sales.
In this way farming would cease to
become hap-hazard business, but would
soon arrive at distinctness and certainty.
The owner could easily ascertain where
he is losing and where he is gaining.
He could then omit understandingly
those operations or crops that continu-
ously prove q waste of capital, and retain
those only which result in gain. He
could confidently adopt Ricardo's two
rules. to cut short his losses and let his
prOfits run on.