The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-10-30
THE PENCIL MAKES
4 FARM.PAY BETTER
Farm Accounting Reveals Losing
Methods and Points Way to
Bigger Profits.
TFroas B~anksr-FarmerJ

A tafm cannot properly be called
successful unless It pays q fair rate
OF interest on the investment and re-
turns fair wages for the farmers Ia
Dor. Agriculture is considered by all
odds the most important industry in
the world, and yet in no other indus
try is the business end SO neglected.
It is common to find a farmer with
an investment Of fifteen to twenty
thousand dollars, yet does he keep
books? Perhaps ne may jot down a
note row and then Of an important
deal, but this is Of no value in an
analysis Of his business as a whole.
No other industry, however small, is
carried on without books Of some
sort.
Farming is a business and 70 be
successful must be conducted IN a
businesslike way. The business mans
mind should have indelIbly printed
upon it two questions: What profit Is
my business making? How can that
profit be increased? To know the lat
ter, q must find out the former; and
to ind out about profits requires the
keeping Of books.
Il Is not necessary Tor q farmer to
have q course Ia bookkeeping. Al
most every agricultural college IN the
country has issued q simpliaed farm
accounting book which It sells at cost,
and only q few minutes are required
each day % 3Ot down the days hap
Denings.
Accounts Increase Profits
Instances number q thousandfold
where farmers have prOhted by know.
ing their business. Accounts kept by
nineteen farmers IN Illinois led them
to improve the organisation and oper-
alton Of their farms IN ways that add.
ed approximately $3.50 30 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
fed to livestock brought more money
than when sold outright His figures
showed that his COWS we're poor;
compared 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
land and r~eplanned his fields, so that
the crop areas per man and horse
we're increased. He sold some Of his
scrubs and bought good cows. The
second year his income from the
farm, after paying all expenses and
interest on the money invested, had
been increased over $3.50.
Costs Can Be Regulated
II have discovered" says one farm
bOOkkeeper, thai the kind Of mar
you have on a job. as well as thc
particular team, often makes quite (
variation in the cost Of performing
certain tasks. / have learned from
the pages Of MY book that If / coulc
have increased the yield Of nay whea
aeld by two bushels and my corn b.
Eve bushels / would have realized
substantial profit from them"
While the farmers may not be abl
to fix prices on their products, the,
do have a voice in determining tn
costs Of production. To reduce thi
cost they must first know what tn
costs are.
The number Of farmers who ar
keeping books on their business ha
increased remarkably in recent years
but the number OF businesslike farm
ers is woefully small when liste
alongside the sum total Of the farm
ers in the country.
Inventory Is Indispensable
The basis Of any system Of farm a,
counting is the annual property lis
or inventory. It is the starting pOir
Of the farm records. One must TAX
into consideration decreases or il
creases in the value Of all propert
owned to gauge the progress Of tn
business. Lacking facts as to th
value Of his property. no business ma
can form an accurate estimate OF no
he stands financially. Increased cas-
may be due to property which We
sold, or increased debts may be du
to Improvements made. II a farmc
is falling behind. the inventory wi
emphasize this fact. Often when
man is discouraged and thinks be
making no progress, his inventori'
win tell him that he Is better on tbs
he thought
At the end Of each year a hnanci
statement is drawn Oh. This Is Il
farmers rating and no farmer with
good financial statement need Eel
walking into a bank and asking for
loan.