Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-01-31
Keeping Farm Accounts.
D S. Curtis in Southern Planter.

IL II perhaps SAFE W say llldl llOl
one in twenty of the farmers of our
country can, with any certainty, tell,
one year with another, on what pro-
duct of the farm he has made most,
or any profit, or whether in the whole
operation of the farm he has made
anything during the year. In some
exceptionally good years, or on an
unusually fine crop or animal he may
see sure, good profit; but with the
entire operations, one year with an
other, it is doubtful, under the usual
method, if one farmer in twenty can
exactly tell what part of his work
has been most profitable, or even if it
! has been profitable at all nor can he
really tell the actual cost of any oper-
alton on the farm.
What would be thought of mer-
chant or manufacturer if he should
conduct his business in this hap-haz-
ard manner, with no systematic or
detailed account with each customer,
and a full statement of the cost and
sale of each class of articles of goods
in which he dealt? Yet such a course
would be about the same as is pur-
sued by most farmers who keep no
regular, careful accounts of their
work.
When the writer was farmer, for
many years in Western States, he
kept as fair and careful account of the
entire operations of the farm as is
done by other business men with
their articles and customers.
In the first place, plat, or map,
fairly showing each lot, field, ORCH
ard, garden, &c, and each numbered
or named. Then regular account
book was opened with the place, in
which page was assigned to each
lot and animal. A fair account of
debt and credit was kept with each,
as fairly as merchant keepsaccounts
with his customers, page to each
one.
The garden, for instance, was
charged with the interest on the
value of the land it occupied with its
fair share of the yearly taxes on the
place; with the labor, manure and
seed devoted to it, at the fair eSti-
mate of the cost of those things on
the rest of the farm. These charges
made the debt side of the account
opened with q garden. 1t was then
credited with all the produce taken
from it-Whether sold or consumed
at home-at the average market
price. BY this means we knew
whether there was profit or loss in
having a good garden. In fact it was
seen that the garden was the most
profitable portion of the premises, as
it supplied good portion of the sup
port of the family, by the pleasant
food it furnished, together with other
necessaries purchased with the avails
of garden stuff that was sold.
In fact, many farmers seem not to
count what produce the family con-
sume as any part Of their profits de-
rived from the farm, judging from
the talk we have often heard from
some of them, when, in fact, the
comfortable sustenance of a family is
of itself fair profit on small capital
and considerable labor.
Take, for instance, the mechanic,
clerk, or other laborer in city or
town. The wages he receives for his
labor is considered pretty fair, one
year with another, if it be ample to
maintain himself and family COM
fortably. Too often, indeed, they do
not receive enough, for all their la
Dor, to that. Every potato, every
pint of milk, every egg, and every
car of corn, or other garden product
they consume, is really so much cash /;
and the cost of it is just so much
profit or returns realized for their
yearly operations, So with every
merchant, lawyer and doctor; what
he pays for garden.sauce is part of
his profits. So the farmer, who raises
everything, should justly credit what
he consumes as 50 much of what he
has made.
With the orchard page was open
ed, and the same system pursued, it
being charged with interest on the
value of the land occupied, with its
share of taxes, and with the labor
and manure applied to it; that con-
Stituted the Indebtedness of the orch
ard. 1t was then credited with all it
produced, whether sold or consumed
ut home. This showing determined