Smyrna times., 1879-01-22
.402'IcWLIy2'UI.
Keeping Farm Accounts.

Probably there is no class of men doing |
business who neglect to the same extent
that our farmers do, the investigating OF
the operations of each year. The mer-
chant keeps his cash account, which shows
what moneys have passed through his
hands during the year. He also keeps his
expense account, which shows what 1t has
cost him to run his store, and in this ac
count is charged clerk hire, rent, insurance,
taxes, etc, etc. Then at the end OF the
year he takes an inventory of goods on
hand, and is able to strike balance and
see what the result of the years business
has been. If he finds that ii has been un-
favorable, he has before him the data from
which he can make calculations for the
future. lie perhaps finds that he has over
stocked with certain kinds of goods which
soon become unstable, or he discovers that
there is no demand in the market for some
articles which he has supposed were neces-
sary to keep in stock. Or he may find it
necessary to reduce the number of his
clerks. The point we wish to make is this
that a merchant who ls worthy OF the
name. keeps such an account Of his busi-
ness as to be able to tell just where the loss
has been, if there has been any. The mer-
chant does this at heavy expense, because
he finds it absolutely necessary to the sue
cess of his business Now the object of this
article is to urge upon farmers the import
ance of keeping accounts with their busi-
ness in order that they may know where
their losses occur-if there are such-and
that they may intelligently plan for the
future.
Even if the farmer keeps only cash ac.
count, he can look it over and see how
much for stock, seed and implements, and
what the gross receipts of the farm are.
Strange to say, the majority of farmers do
not even do this, and at the end of the
year, if they find they are coming out be-
hindhand, it is impossible for them to tell
what has caused the loss. The keeping of
a cash account will occupy but few minutes
each day, and with little practice, will be-
come easy. If you would be accurate it
will be necessary TO carry pocket memo
randum and put down every penny re-
ceved or paid out, at the time, and then
COPY into your book in the evening; or if
YOU are tired and busy it can be postponed
till a rainy day. 1t is the best, however,
that it should be done every day.
Keeping accounts with any particular
field or crop is a very simple matter. In
doing this you should charge fair rent per
acre for the land, then all labor, seed, ETC.,
and credit the field with grain produced at
market value. The account with ten.acre
field would be something like this:
Rent at So per acre.. 5000
breaking days, at 20OC
Narrowing and 15Ol
Seed 10 bushels, at Sl................ 10OC
Drilling at Soc per 5OC
Harvesting at 81 per 20O(
Total. .OC
Hauling and threshing could be balanced
against the straw. When the wheat is
threshed, credit the field with it, at the
market price, and find what the cost pei
bushel was. and the profit or loss per acre
or per bushel. A similar account could be
kept with corn field which would enable
the farmer to answer intelligently the ques-
tion, "What does it cost to raise a bushel
of wheat or corn?'' while at present there
are few who can give an intelligent answer
More than this, it could not fail to make
better farmers of them, for they would soon
learn that the profit in farming comes from
good crops, and that poor crops were often
produced at an actual loss. For instance
the wheat crop alone, if it produced L
bushels to the acre, would cost 81 bushel
The farmer who, by system of accounts
is able thus to strike balance with hi:
fields and ascertain the cost of production
is not likely to produce crops at loss, foI
he is acting intelligently. If he has been
producing 20 acres each Of corn and wheat
and from the small yield getting the bare
cost of cultivation, lis account book will
show him that half this land in grass ant
the other half better manured and cult
waited, might give him profit. We know
from experience that keeping farm ac
counts will make one more careful farmer
and feel that we can give no better advice
to our readers than that they at once begir
to practice t.-PractcaL Farmer.