The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1925-08-26
The PENCIL MAKES
A FARM PAY BETTER
Farm Accounting Reveals Losing
Methods and Points Way to
Bigger Profits.
from Banker-Farmerl


A farm cannot properly be Gale
successful unless 1t pays fair rat
OF interest on the investment and re
Hrns fair wages for the farmers la
Dor. Agriculture is considered by al
odds the most important industry Il
the world, and yet In no other Indus
try Is the business end SO neglected.
1t Is common to find a farmer will
an investment Of fifteen to twent,
thousand dollars, yet does he keel
books? Perhaps he may jot down 6
note now and then Of an Important
deal. but this is of no value 10 an
analysis OF his business as whole
No other industry, however small, is
carried on without books of some
sort.
Farming is a business and to be
successful must be conducted In a
businesslike way. The business mans
mind should have indelibly printed
upon 1t two questions: What profit Is
my business making? How can that
profit be increased? To know the lat
ter, one must find out the former; and
to find out about profits requires the
keeping Of books.
Is not necessary for a farmer to
have course In bookkeeping AL
most every agricultural college in the
country has issued simplified farm
accounting book which it sells at cost,
and only few minutes are required
each day to jot down the days hap
penings.
Accounts Increase Profits
Instances number a thousandfold
where farmers have profited by know
ing their business. Accounts kept by
nineteen farmers in Illinois led them
to improve the organization and oper
alton of their farms in ways that add
ed approximately $3.50 to their aver
age net income in 1922, the seventh
year they had kept accounts
An Iowa farmer found at the end OF
the first year he kept books that crops
led to livestock brought more money
than when sold outright. His figures
showed that his cows were poor;
with other farms In the
state, he found the number Of acres
cultivated per man on. his farm, as
we'll as the number OF acres per horse,
we're below average. He rented more
and and replanned his fields, SO that
tho crop areas per man and horse
we're increased. He sold some of his
Dcrubs and bought good cows. The
Iecond year his income from the
Larm, after paying all expenses and
Interest On the money invested, had
beon Increased over $3.50.
Costs Can Be Regulated
Il have discovered" says one farm
that the kind Of man
vcu have ON a job, as well as the
particular team, often makes quite a
in the cost of performing
certain tasks. have learned from
he pages of my book that If could
lave Increased the yield of my wheat
Ield by two bushels and my corn by
I've bushels ! would have realized q
profit from them"
While the farmers may not be able |
o fix prices on their products, they |
10 have voice in determining the
osts OF production. To reduce this
,ost they must first know what the |
osts are.
The number Of farmers who are
,eeping books on their business has
increased remarkably In recent years,
tut the number Of businesslike farm
RS Is woefully small when listed
longside the sum total of the farm
rs in the country
Inventory Is Indispensable
The basis OF any system OF farm &C
ounting Is the annual property list
r inventory 1t is the starting point
I the farm records. One must take
nto consideration decreases or In
reases In the value of all property
wned to gauge the progress OF the
usIness. Lacking facts as to the
alue OF his property. no business man
an form an accurate estimate OF how
9 stands financially. Increased cash
lay be due to property which was
old. or increased debts may be due
, Improvements made. II a farmer
falling behind. the inventory will
mphasze rlis fact. Often when .
ian is discouraged and thinks he is
taking no progress. his inventories
Ill tell him that he is better on than
Q thought.
At the end of each year financial
.atement Is drawn off. This is the
lrmers rating and no farmer with q
god financial statement need fear
alking into bank and asking for q
IAN.