, 1907-08-15
1T PAYS.
The Value to the Farmer Of Keeping
Field Accounts.

Many pages of agricultural litera-
ture have been wisely devoted to urg.
ing farmers to keep account of the diff
ferent members of their dairies, to the
end that the cows hat do not show
a profit may be disposed of and those
that show a proper balance be used to
advantage in building up a more
profitable herd. In all probability,
farmers who have followed this ad-
vice carefully and consistently for a
few years have found the practice
much to their advantage. In no other
way than by a careful account can a
farmer tell which of his COWS is kept
at a loss and which, by their superior
productiveness, are bearing the bur-
den of a lot of worthless animals in
order to show a little profit for the en-
tire dairy.
But there is another way in which
the practice of keeping such an &C.
count may well result in great profit.
Our farms IN New York state are di-
vided into fields of different sizes for
the convenience of diversified agricul-
ture. Different portions of the farm
may be thus pastured or devoted to
grain or grass growing. 1t is doubt
full If many farmers know, except in
a general way, which of their fields
are most productive, or the extent to
which they are so, and which fields
barely pay the cost Of taxes and cult
walton.
Not a great way from the barn the
ordinary farmer may have a field
which will, in ordinary seasons, give
from two to three ions of cured hay
to the acre. Half a mile from the barn
may be a considerable area that will
not average over half a ton. But every
acre on the farm pays an equal
amount of taxes and it takes just as
much time and labor to pillow an acre
of poor land as it does of the more
fertile, and the reason for this condi.
ton of fertility or lack of fertility
m from the fact that the fields
close to the farm buildings have in
time past received more than their
fair share of fertilizers and have been
devoted to crops that would pay bet
ter than the more remote fields.
1 dare say that on many farms the
farmer. if he pursues this idea care
fully n continuously, will find a
large portion of his farm is actually
not paying expenses of c~ultivating.
Generally speaking, the fact that one
choice acre of the farm will produce
two and a half or three ton of cured
hay per acre and another acre more
remote from the barn will produce
only half a ton, ought to convince a
thoughtful farmer that he himself is
responsible for the deficiency. Other
things being equal, the remote acre
should produce as much in the way
of crops as any other acre. 1t is Ger.
tainly a slipshod way of carrying on
the farm, that the barnyard manure
should be dumped around in the fields
near the farm buildings because toe
much labor is required to draw 1t to
the more distant parts of the farm.
These being, in all probability. actual.
ly hungry for the manure would re.
spond to generous use of manure and
more thorough cultivation.
The farmer himself when this is
called to his attention, may have a
general idea of the different results
from the different parts of the farm
but the systematic and careful method
of keeping account with the different
fields of the farm will be the best
way to bring this directly home to
the farmer himself and result more
quickly in a change of treatment.