Oxford Democrat., 1919-12-16
What Accounts Did for One Farmer.

There are ct least two elements thi
enter into the success Of most good fsr,i
ers. One is that certain skill and abilit
TO do things which comes OF experieuc,
The other is an understanding Of goc
business principles that make up the di
ference between paying farm or losin
: one. We sometimes get ct this by sayin
that So-and.So 10 . good worker, an
that he has plenty Of common sense
Any way it IL expressed, the fact remain
that the men who got ahead In the worl
ale mostly those who back their har
work by intelligent business foresight.
A farm may be . homestead. Bu
farming is business. Given fair condl
tions, 1t is Q business In which goo,
methods make money and poor one
make . mortgage. Many farmers z,
through life without learning that the.
are engaged In business these mel
never have to pay an income tax. Th
skill and training which boy gains wh,
is fsrm-born and bred are bis big asset
when he starts In for himself. The mai
who attempts to farm without this train
Ing must get his experience at Q late
period, and usually in q more expensive
way.
In Cheshire County, N. a., there live
Q good farmer who was formerly q city
man. The story of his acquiring the e1
perience, skill, and business kno wledg.
that have made him a good farmer is .
Typical story and is thereby a tremen
dously interesting one. Eight years age
this man decided that he would eventu
ally give up indoor city work and turr
his face to the country. His idea was to
get farm and plant 1t mainly to fruit
While the young fruit trees were grow
ing into bearing be proposed to keep or
10 the city, then when the time came
they would move on to the farm and live
happily ever after. Such was the pro.
gram.
After some looking, he finally bought
farm In Cheshire County. It proved
to be q fairly good one, though handi.
capped by that greatest of farm handi.
caps-distance from market. As the
owner says, 1t is probable that In buying
1t he was as much Influenced by the fine
"view' az anything else. And the out
look is indeed splendid.
Possessed of farm, he started In to
plant apples and peaches. Presently,
also, the force of circu instances led him
to leave the city work; so that the same
year that saw him farm owner saw him
full.fedged farmer.
Then began the experience. 1t devel.
oped that peaches did not take kindly to
the region. 1t developed, also, that there
was more to the apple game than picking
beautiful red fruit once q year. Borers,
fungi, insects, Larvae, mice, rabbits, not
to mention hard winters and other pests,
made themselves known and took toll.
To fight these things took skill, labor,
and money, and there was little Of either
skill or money to draw upon. he went
in for poultry, which most city people
have In the back of their minds when
they think OF farming. But managing
poultry for profit Is business, too, and
q man must learn 1t. Also, 1t takes time
to develop flock to the point of real re-
turns. Meanwhile the little fruit trees
were slowly but obviously giving up the
ghost. The peaches winterkilled; the
apples seemed to have various ways of
committing suicide. All of which, Of
course, meant the passing of hard. earned
money, and the slow fading of their
dream of fruitfarm income.
Thus matters went along for four
years. Then about this time the farm
bureau movement came into full swing
in the county, and our friend interested
himself In 1t. he became interested in
the farm accounting system, and started
In to keep one of the account books put
out through the farm bureau. "And
that" he says, twas my first lesson in
the business of farming he kept the
account book religiously through the
year, and at the end of the year he went
about studying the record ss corpora
tion president studies the annual balance
sheet. II was In this careful study and
analysis of bis farm organization that
this man showed the personal qualities
that 60 to make up successful business
maD-on the farm or anywhere else. A
good farmer must back up bis hard work
by businesslike use of brains.
He discovered by comparing his years
summary with other men that most of
his successful neighbors were following
an entirely different type Of farming.
They were building up their businesses
mainly around the dairy. And in Rome
1t is generally profitable to do as the
Romans do.
So, after the second years account
book had been summarized, studied, and
pondered over, be decided to reorganize
the whole business and proceed along
new lines-lines that were showing up
better in his nelghbors' yearly records.
OF course, 1t takes time to mike Q shift OF
this sort. Not only time, but courage
and brains. This farm Is now started on
the road to success. Five years will
show q herd of pure-bred Holstein cattle,
a more productive farm, and q good labor
income.