Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1921-05-12

to the owners.
Various forces are at work on the diff
ferent kinds of property used. These
forces and their effects must be
measured, often most readily in
terms of money.
To make sure that no confusion will
arise, facts of the same kind are kept
together, or classified into accounts. {"
An account must show the physical
as we'll as the financial basis of the
transaction, else it has no value in
shaping future efforts. A simple bust
mess has few accounts.
Increasing complexity requires and
suggests further increase in the
records. Always remember that a
trade or transaction involves the ex-
change Of thing Or a service for
something of equal value, which
means that when something of value
is given up something Of equal value,
whether of cash or goods or service,
is received. This is the "d0uble-en-
try" principle and one can't get away
from it, and won't want to try to get
away from it when it's significance is
understood
Make System Meet Needs.
Working on this basis, suitable
set OF records may be made up for any
farm to meet the needs Of the farmer
If he starts with his inventory or list
of property and obligations and pro-
ceeds methodically to ask himself
questions, not hundred at once, and
arrange his records to answer these
questions, he will soon realize how
much record work he can handle, that
he must confne his inquiry to the
main enterprises, that he can dispose
Of many questions after a short perioo
of observation, that only those enter
prises need intensive study which are
vitality important to the success of the
business as a whole.
Here are some Of the questions
which farmers may ask themselves:
How much do / want to buy this
year?
What do my horses cost to keep
them a year? How much work do
they do? Could I get along with few
er horses?
Can | spread my crop labor out over
the year and so use my labor supply
more evenly?
How much does it cost to feed hogs?
How much do I have to buy and how
much do l supply from the farm
What gain did the hogs make?
| wonder if that poultry business
wouldn't be worth expanding?
What is the average cow on my
place producing in money? In milk
Or butterfat? How much should /
pay for the concentrates for cattle 2
Would I do better to buy more or
less this year?
I wonder what the relative prices
of grain and milk are going to be this
year. I'll guess little something
from the last years prices.
Ought l to go into purebred cattle?
Did my grade calves pay for the milk
they got?
What did running the farm machin-
cry cost? They say it costs about 10
per cent, but we have an idea it is
nearer 25 per cent for the year.
Shall l use fertilizer7 May have
to try it.
Am l worth as much this year as
last year? Is the increase in any way
due to price increases or have ]
more physical resources?
II Have / got my money tied up or
have l got it where it can be reason
ably quickly turned? I think it is a
reasonable proposition to owe some
money all the time, but want to be
sure that at rather short notice I can
cover all the bills I need to cover
without breaking up my business.
I wonder what we really do get out
of the farm for the family use. What
crops or what kind of live stock paw
best for the time we put into them:
On the whole do I earn interest, or
do / earn wages, or both, or neither?
Two sorts of enterprises require
this study-those which show small
margins, for the purpose of stopping
leaks or determining whether they are
worth continuing; and those which
bring in the most income whether
margins are small or large, for the
purpose of making them still more
effective.
Much Detail Discharges.
Many a farmers ambition to keep
accounts has been killed by well-in
tended advice to keep full set OF
detailed records. Every farm record
should provide for the main facts
about the business, and intensive
analysis applied to one or two phases
it time. The common practice is to