l,aCuyett_
.     Acrl   Libia.,> ^^^^_
VOL. LVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, OCT. 24, 1903.
NO. 43
gxpericttce g^avim-eni.
KEEPING A RECORD OF THE PROFITS AND
LOSSES OF THE FARM.
An Accurate Record is  a Practical Help.
lst Premium.—All farmers should be
practical. They should keep an accurate account of all losses and gains, in
fact an accurate account of everything
done on the farm, an account of every
cent paid out and every cent taken in.
Failure to do this has placed the mortgages on three-fourths or more of the
mortgaged farms, and failure to do this
will cause a great per cent of those farms
to remain mortgaged.
The best way is never to go into debt,
hut there are some instances where it
sooms to be unavoidable. In such a case
don't leave the account to be kept by
others alone; keep an account of everything yourself. Remember all are liable
to make mistakes, and if you keep no account yourself ,you may be the loser. Besides you will always find people wbo are
reaily to impose on others if they know
them to be persons who never keep an
account of anything.
Expenditures mount up much faster
than one thinks, unless an account is kept,
and are apt to run beyond the income,
whereas, if au account were kept, one
could lower the expenses, or if that could
not possibly be done, one could at least
see the condition of things and prepare in
some way to meet them. Some farmers
put out the same crop from year to year,
and fail to make it a success financially,
and then wonder why it is so, not knowing that the expense of raising that crop
is greater than the income. If such an
one had kept an account, he would have
known the first year that he could not
make that crop pay, and then would have
been ready to raise some other crop that
woulil bring him a profit. I know a
farmer who fed and shipped his own cattle, and who thought the profits small
sometimes, but kept no account. At last.
gaining discouraged, he kept an account
nf everything—weight of cattle before and
after feeding, weight of hogs before and
after feeding, and an account of all feed,
and then saw that he could not feed, even
for n good price for his stock.
I also know a farmer's wife who raised
only the large breeds of chickens and who
thought she was aloing well, as the chickens weigheal well, not thinking there was
twice the income in eggs that there was
in selling chickens. She was at last
persuaded to try a small breed for eggs,
and she found, by keeping an account of
tiie income and profit of each breed, that
she had almost doubled her profits on
chickens. If she had kept no account,
she would iiave had no idea of the difference in the profits of the breeds, and wouhl
have continued raising the large kind, and
thereby been the loser. It is the same
with hogs. One should keep an account
of all feed. Some are situated to make
the most iu feeding one kiml of feed, some
another. Always keep an account of
all feed given to cows for milk and butter, and see which pays best. Then of
course one will continue the most profitable feed. If you keep no account,
you will not know which is the more profitable. So it is in all that pertains to the
farms, both with the farmer and his wife.
Let each keep an accurate account of all
their transactions. It will not only be
a benefit, but a pleasure. One can g»*t
books already prepared, divided Into sections, one for    each department    of the
farm, but such books that have come under my observation are a little expensive.
One that I have used, and llound very
convenient, is only a common note book,
with separate division for each department. Don't put off noting down- your
accounts until Saturday evening, or some
more convenient time, but be punctual,
note them down at the close of every day;
it will only take a tew minutes and there
will be nothing forgotten. Always be
sure and date everything. I have found
times when the date was as much importance as the account. Keeping the
recount should, if convenient, be assigned
to some particular member of the family.
■tock does not determine whether the animals hare yielded a large or small profit
to llie uuiier. ("ust of pranliii-tion must be
taken into account. Not only tbe value
of feed consumed, but the labor required
in keeping tke animals, should lie taken
iuto account. On our list, hogs are at
tho head as profit producers. We account flor this by the fact that they are
rapid growers; that while one set is making rapid strides toward the pork barrel,
another is coming on to take their places,
in quick succession, when they are gone.
Tha-y bring quick returns and aif abundance of them, when properly handled.
Next on the list is poultry.        Each fowl
The  Gideon  Mill, dark Co., 111.
If there is a girl or tioy old enough to
attend to it, you would be surprised at
the interest they will take in it. It will
also be a good lesson in bookkeeping, and
help them to know the business forms of
life, also to be progressive and practical
farmers. E. P.
Richland Co., 111.
One Year's Trial Will Convince.
2d Premium. One needs but to try the
keeping of farm accounts ,to prove to his
own satisfaction the convenience of knowing just what every branch of farming
and stock raising costs each year and the
profit yielded by each. One year's time
will teach any one the advantage of such
a system. For years we had heard different farmers, according to their particular hobbies, tell with pride of the great
profit reapeal from different departments
of their farm work ,some preferring hogs,
some cattle, some poultry, some corn, some
hay, while some were enthusiastic over the
products of the dairy as profit producers.
This we determined to prove for ourselves
by keeping account of the cost of production and the total receipts resulting from
the sale of every product on our farm.
This we have done for two years. We
keep a ledger and give eaeh a department
lay itself. We do not trouble to keep a
day book, since it is not a difficult matter
to jot down each item of expense on the
debit side and each cash receipt on the
credit side of the ledger at the time such
money is received or expended. This
systaiu of accounts has developed some
j interesting facts. For instance: The
amount   received   from   the  sale   of  live
used on the table is put down to the credit
of the flock, at the regular market price,
as well as all the eggs consumed at home.
The cost of running the incubator and
brooder, and the feed of both mature and
growing fowls, cost of houses, yards, etc.,
are couuted against them. Thus it will
tt seen that we can tell, by simply aihling
up tho two columns and subtracting the
lesser from the greater, just what our profit or loss k.
There are some branches of fanning that
cannot be made to pay under certain kinds
of management. Keeping farm records
will soon show you what they are. We
never had a large profit on- hogs until the
keeping of accounts showed us that the
more grain we fed the greater the cost of
pork  production  for  us. By  studying
and experimenting, we found that growing
hogs need pasture more than grain, aud
that the former is much cheaper than the
latter, so our growing hogs get mostly
good pasture, rocts, vegetables, etc., with
little expensive grain. C. B. B.
Kansas.
Accounts Show Where Changes Should be Made.
3d Premium.—I suppose every farmer
and farmers' wife at least keeps a partial
record of the income and outgo of the
farm. If they never have, they should
commence at once, and not wait till Janu-
uary 1st to turn this new leaf. We began keeping booka when we went to
housekeeping, anal I think it lias helped us
to keep up our courage when crops were
short and things in genernl looked gloomy.
It is well to keep a record of each department  of  the   farm.        In  this  way
the farmer and his wife can see where
tliey can use their time to must advantage. The funnel's wife cau keep a
record of the grain, etc., that their fowls
iat, and the numlier of dozen eggs they
lay. If she keeps a note book for this
purpose, she can make an entry each day
of the grain fed anal eggs received in return; or she can hare the grain measured
lay the tens of bushels, ami use it for nothing else but poultry, and keep account of
eggs and Cowls solal, and price received
for same, and make a total of each at the
end of the month or year. Tlio farmer
can keep a record of the grain he is feeding his hogs, ami when they are ready
io put ou the market he can count his
•grata at market price, and his hogs at
what tbey would have brought him at
eight weeks old, and see what he has gain-
eal by feeding them. If he has not made
money in the transaction he should try
feeding his train to something else that he
thinks will pay better.
There should be one general account
book in- the home, and one bookkeeper;
that is, where there is only one pocket-
book, or in other words where man and
wife have eaiual interest iu the farm, as
it should lie iu every home.
This book may he a real account book
that is solal in stationary stores ,6r it may
Ih' any blank book. That is lined as the
■account books are. Ours is a composition
book. On one page we put onr income,
and on the other our outlay. At the
beginning of each month and year wa- write
the  name  of the  month  or  year. In
this way we can look over the books and
see what we have gained each month, aud
what we have gained at the end of the
year over previous years. If there is
no record kept of the affairs of the farm,
the farmer and his wife may go on blindly in the same ohl way and never know
where they could make a change that
would be of advantage to them.
If every Jarmer kept an account of
everything on the farm, I think it would
keep them, and their sons and daughters,
from leaving the farm and seeking to
make a fortune in the already over-crowded city, just because some friend has
written them of the salary they receive,
nnd says nothing of the board and other
expenses. Farmer's Wife.
Floyd Co.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach ns one .reck before date of publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers of the Farmer are as follows
No. 309, Oct. 31.—Tell how to feed and
care for breeding hogs through winter.
No. 400, Nov. 7 — Should the fanner
plant an orchard for profit? Give experience in successful  fruit growing.
Such items as the following should be
a warning to nil who have to deal with
vicious animals. Thomas Laird, a fanner
of Delaware county, went into liis barn
last Sunday to feeal the family driving
horse. He dropped an ear of corn nnd
when he stooped to pick it up the horse
attacked hini. Laird was bitten in the
face, his whole lower lip being torn
away to the jaw fiom each corner of his
month. Afterwaral no trace of the lip
could be found and Laird will be badly
disfigured for life.
Safety   pins   are   peculiarly   American.
We  use  144,000,000 of them each  year.