Smyrna times., 1925-11-25
TIE PENCIL MAKES
A FARM PAY BETTER
Farm Accounting Reveals Losing
Methods and Points Way to
Bigger Profits.
(f'rOm BGnker-FGrmeT)

successful unless it pays a fair rate
Of interest on the investment and re-
turns fair wages for the farmers la
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.
1t is common to find a farmer with
an investment of fifteen to twenty
thousand dollars, yet does he keep
books? Perhaps he may jot down a
note now and then Of an important
deal, but this is Of no value in an
analysis of bis business as a 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
businessnke 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, one must find out the former; and
to find out about profits requires the
keeping of books.
1t is not necessary for a farmer to
have a course in bookkeeping. Al
most every agricultural college in the
country has issued a simplifed farm
accounting book which it sells at cost.
and only a 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
fed to livestock brought more money
than when sold outright. His figures
| showed that his cows were poor;
compared with other farms in the
state. he found the number of acres
! cultivated per man on his farm, as
well as the number of acres per horse.
were below average. He rented more
land and replanned his fields, so that
the crop areas per man and horse
| were 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
Il have discovered" says one farm
bookkeeper, that the kind Of mar
you have on a job, as we'll as the
particular team, often makes quite q
variation in the cost of performing
certain tasks. have learned from
the pages of my book that if ! could
have increased the yield Of my whea
field by two bushels and my corn b!
five bushels l 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. 1t is the starting poiI
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 th
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 VIZ
sold, or increased debts may be dJ
,, to improvements made. If a farm,
is falling behind, the inventory WI
emphasize this fact. Often when
; man is discouraged and thinks he
making no progress, his inventors
will tell him that he is better off thG
he thought.
> At the end of each year a financi
j statement is drawn OFF. This is Il
y farmers rating and no farmer with
g good financial statement need fe
walking into a bank and asking for
y loan.