Connecticut western news., 1882-02-01
FARM AND GARDEN.
STRICT SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS NEEnFur,
 TO THE FARMER. ..

STRICT SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS NEEoFUr
 TO THE FARMER. --...
 How many farmers know which ani-
 mals are being kept at profit and
 which at loss It is probable that in
 many a herd the most profitable ami
 mals are aiding in the support of others
 in whom there is no profit, and dis
 guising the fact of the unproftableness.
 1t would be genuine surprise to
 most farmers if they should divide their
 herd into three parts, and keep an ac.
 count of the returns from each separate
 part, whether in milk, fat, or growth.
 AS 1t IS now, the farmer, ignorant of
 the mlnutie of animal progress in his
 own herd. does not place reliance upon
 the opinions or facts of those who, after
 careful consideration, offer their results
 to the public through the agricultural
 press.
 Some time ago we were talking
 with gentleman of proverbial shrewd- ness and enterprise, and listening to an
 exposition of his method of farming.
 It was case of operating on large scale The dealings were by car loads, and careful expense accounts were kept. Said this gentleman
 ''I have long since given up stocking my western farms with adult animals.
 My books show that I cannot depend upon profit when I buy car load of adult animals, and after feeding for an interval dispose of them on the mar ket. Depending, as I have to do. upon hired labor, cannot convert nv hay and grain into sufficient flesh or fat to give me the market price for my feed In this manner. But if I cannot raise fat and flesh at profit from adult ami mals, can raise growth. never knew carload of calves bought fairly and kept for three years, and then sold, to show loss. It is the growth-the growth that gives the profits sufficient to con- pensate for whatever risks there are in farming at distance.
 "A car load of calves" he said, "costs but little freight per head to transport. There IS far less risk the first three years of life to health or of accident than at any other time. The growth is sure without any especial forcing, and every pound of growth is at profit. If adult animals are fed, they mast be fed care- fully and properly. Every attempt at forcing requires watchful care. and the better we desire to turn off our cattle the greater the risk. No, sir, it is not the fat nor the flesh, but the growth which turns to the most profit"
 Now, this gentleman did not intend to give the impression that the fatten- ing of stock could not be made profit able, but that under conditions where personal supervision each day was im- possible, certain method, involving less risk and requiring less attention, would pay the proprietor handsomely, at the time and place where another method of farming would fail to return profit. He knew it. His books showed hlm.
 Now, this Is what we urge upon the farmer-that he study his herd and his methods; that he shall keep such re- cords that he shall know just what measure of approbation to mete out to each portion of his system of farming. and that he shall cause his books to show him. Will the rearing of calves l to maturity or the keeping of adult stock bring back the largest net returns from the beef market How much loss comes through the keeping of certain animals after they have attained "ripe- ness ?" What influence on the pocket comes through the delay in making sales How long can cattle be profit ably kept in order to secure what rise of price in the market? What is the pro- portionate risk of disease, Or of getting off their feed in the case of fat cattle. over those which are still growing ? And so we might go on, but questions of this will suggest themselves abun- ,iantly.
 In the case of the stockman. the solving of these questions may some- times meet with difficulties. But there ls no excuse for the dairyman in rot knowing which of his COWS are paying the profit and supporting the waste oc. by poorer COWS. It is easy, too, for the dairyman to figure out the cost of keeping his COWS throughout the year. It is an easy calculation, knowing the price of milk, to determine how much milk each COW must give be- fore she can return prodt. It is easy to know just how much milk year each COW gives. With these data, any COW not giving the requisite yield of milk should be fatted for the butcher or sold to another party.
 Let us illustrate. Hay is worth s1O ton; milk is worth two cents a quart; @ cow weighing 1000 pounds, will require about three tons of hay a year, or its equivalent. In order, then, to be kept It profit, COW must yield, at the least, enough milk to pay for $50 worth of hay, or 1,5O0 quarts. These figures Ire only offered as illustrative of the but if they should apply to any armer, he must know that any COW hat will not give 1,5OO quarts 8 year is lot the COW he can afford to keep.
 But to find out how much milk each LOW in herd yields is good deal of rouble. We'll, this life is full of such lind of trouble; but the manufacturer las none of it, for instead of calling the Iscertaining of the facts of his busi-