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Show BOOKKEEPING ON THE FARM.; 9 9 There, as Everywhere Else, It. Bears a Vital Relation, to Success. . 9 9 ur david nui'i'Dar. dtOC OltEAT many times ln my 'klW V "f ,mV0 l)CCn n8luul lllG O Jl o question, "Can farming, ns A R ii biiHlness, be made to fOW imy'" The question is a very old ono anil I suppose 'will continue for some tlmo to bo .asked. My miniver bus always becu jtho snmo: "Yes, but it must bo re-.mcinbored re-.mcinbored that fnrinliig, ns a business, Is subject to the smiiu general principles princi-ples which govern nny other business." ' If a ninn were to start n cotton mill nntl keep no account of, receipts nml Idlsbursciiients, take no care of his machinery, ma-chinery, mid keep no lookout on tho market, how long could lie continue in business, or what bank or individual would think for u moment of ndvnnc-Jug ndvnnc-Jug him credit to carry on his enter-iprlse? enter-iprlse? And yet the sniiio necessity for lexact bushiest mctlmda exists in agri culture ns In manufacturing. ! "But," says home one (and, In fact, i heard this same nrgumcut only n jfew dnys. ago), "a cotton mill is n big affair and a farm a comparatively 'small one; und the exact methods of Jtlio ono are not necessary In the con-jduct con-jduct of the other." Unquestlonally tho ifnrm is usually though by no means Inecessarlly n smaller nITair, but n business conducted without system must of necessity bo small. I havo purposely used tho cotton mill as nn illustration because, though great fortunes have been built up by ,lt, tho making ot cotton cloth is not, an Itself, n very profitable industry. There is a larger percentage of protlt ion many agricultural operations, and Hlio comparison of the two industries illustrates tho old truism that n bad .business well managed will pay where 'n good business poorly managed will !not. It Is true that the number of business busi-ness failures mining fanners is extremely ex-tremely small as compared with other classes, a fact that many agricultural journals dwell upon with insistence. But why are these failures so lnfre-qtient? lnfre-qtient? Simply because with a very largo proportion of farmers, agriculture Is not a business nt all, but only n means of subsistence, which Is n very different thing. A ninn who hns no business cannot fall in It. Hut though farmers niay not often bo driven into bankruptcy, they stistnlu losses from 'neglect of business methods whicli 'they little suspect. An illustration of tills, which I think Is worth giving, recently came tto my notice. An ncqualntance of mlno had 102 cows on his dairy farm. The farm was not paying, and lie asked mo if I could find where the trouble lay nnd point lout a remedy. After a careful examination exam-ination ot bis farm and equipment I told him I doubted if nil his cows were paj-lng him n protlt. Ho was Mil-prised and said that though tho cows varied In quality they were nil good cows. The test, however, how-ever, which consisted In milking each cow separately until her milking qualities quali-ties wero fully ascertained, disclosed the fact that eleven out of the 102 wero being kept at n loos, while several others oth-ers wero barely self-supporting! Tho weeding out of these worthless animals made it posslblo to dlspenso with the services of ono ot tho farm hands, nnd n further test proved that tho cows would give Just ns much milk nnd keep ln better health on a considerably less expensive rntion n tiiinir tholr owner should havo known long before. The advantage to tho fnrmer of knowing just "where he Is nt" ln each nnd every department thnt ho has in 'hand would seem to bo so self-evident ns to bo beyond tho realm of discussion. discus-sion. "Hut I don't need to keep books," said a country neighbor of mine; "I havo a good llvin' and I'm sure o' thnt much; then if I have sny, ?50O to the good ut tho end o' thu year, I don't need nny book but my bank to show me I'vo got lt-and there's my profit, No, I didn't see, nml I asked him nt what figure ho estimated the cost of his living. He had very vague ideas on this subject, nnd was surprised when ;i told him that ho ought to know, and that tho flguro should be added to his l$500. I said I supposed ho nt least know what he paid out during the year for groceries, Hour and household supplies, sup-plies, lint no, he didn't know oven thnt. Further talk dlselosed the fact that ho never disbursed nny cash for 'these luxuries, but "enl'lated" for his bens to pay the store bill, nlwnys trad-;ing trad-;ing epga for groceries. 1 "Then you don't know now niuen 10 Icredlt your hens with?" No. ho didn't. But the critters done all he required of 'em; they paid tho store bill. My averment that mi nccurate .knowledge of one's business was essential essen-tial to obtaining the best results of which It was capable be admitted did .sound kinder rasb'nal; but he cal'hited ,to hit pretty nigh tho mark without 'much elpherln', and concluded ns follows: fol-lows: "Wo farmers hov got a vein o' 'liiMirlonsness In us that nlu't always Evident in our exteriors, nnd we'ro wll-'lln' wll-'lln' to lose u few thousands o' dollars ,In a lifetime for tho sake o' freedom ,from hnrrnssln' details u sort o' llvin' up to our Ideals, as our parson says." Tho unquestioned philosophy of this reply excited my admiration, but I doubted Its truth. I felt suro that lie would not pay tho price, nor niiythlng 'like It, for that partlei.lar kind of freedom free-dom If ho realized It In Its fall extent. This man was t y no means u fool; on the contrary ho had much native sagacity, and many storl ug qualities, but IiIb Valuing from boyhood, up had 9 nil been in tho lines which ho followed, nnd having nttalned n inodernto success suc-cess ho placed the stamp of full approval ap-proval upon bjmself nnd his manner of farming. lib was doubtless honest In ills judgment, but bis success was1 not In ji large enough way nor of a sutllelently attractive kind to Justify It WHAT SYSTEM WILT' DO. Hut perhnps of greater valuo ns nn Illustration than nny other Instance I could clto is that of a man In myj native State of ltbode Island. He Inherited In-herited from his father n very good) farm, beautifully situated und of fertllq soil, though rather fur from market. 1'or some reason or reasons It pnkl him very little nml bo became greatly! dlssatlslled. He Anally decided to keep, for ono yenr u separate account ofj each feature of bis farm In order to1 ascertain what was the most nnd which the least prolltable. This brought to light some surprising fa'cts. Ho found thnt ho hail been fattening steers nt u loss, nnd that his dairy was barely self-sustaining. Ills sheep paid much better, but the one feature which paid far In excess of nny other was his poultry. On tills there was a net profit of n trifle over n dollar n head per! annum. Ho now grndunly disposed of his catr tie, keeping more sheep, and Increasing! bis poultry (which ho kept on tho "col-! ony plan"), till he had over 7000 hens: Figured 'on the above bnsls, which Is n safe one, the Income from thesoj alono Is no mean figure, to say nothing of wbnt ho realizes from his kheep nnd other sources. I hnve personally examined (and ndmlred) his fnrm a great many times nnd know that It isj an exceedingly prolltable one. And( yet this is the snino farm which formerly for-merly yielded only n mengro nnd un-i satisfactory Income. I I might cite other examples, but the' nbovo nre probably sufllclent. TheyJ cover very diverse conditions of soil1 nnd climate, and, I think, contnln ln pretty full measure the answer to our, question. ' Tho question may very naturally fol-i low, "If agriculture can be made to pay so well as a business why have nob moro men gone Into It ns such?" Tho' nnswer Is simple. Young farmers have' rarcly'been trained In exact business, methods, mid liublt holds them to their manner of life; while young men ln the cities lack that Intimate knowledge! of agriculture without which nil the", .method and system In the world would never make tho farm pay. The number num-ber has thus been restricted to those who would naturally grasp the possibilities possi-bilities of agriculture, nnd to whom It would nppenl ns a thing ln which brains nnd capital could be profitably Invested. Nevertheless, I believe thnt In the future possibly much sooner thnn any of us expect greatly increased ntten-J tlou will bo bestowed upon ngrlculturej as a business. Its possibilities, ns! brought to light by Investigation nnd tho grndual narrowing of ninny other fields, will naturally compel tills. It is n Held thnt hns never been overdone nnd it contains golden prizes for those who will cultlvnto It aright; even ln those departments which hnvo been most lnrgely developed and ln which thero has been tho greatest competition there is still room for the production of tho best. Of tho best agricultural products there has never been, and never will be. nn ovevsupply. Sntur-i day Evening Tost. I |