The feed-book contains the amount of grain, etc., used for each variety of stock.
The farm-book is kept in a like manner, the field number heading the page; then, when ploughed; how and to what extent fertilised; with what variety of seeds sown; number of times cultivated, when harvested and the amount of the crop.
On the opposite page, in pencil, are suggestions for catch crops and rotation for main planting for a period of five years. Small note-pads with pencils attached are fastened up in every stall or pen of each outbuilding, and events are jotted down as they occur, so that there is no chance of forgetting or getting things mixed. Every Saturday the sheets are torn from the pads and brought to the house, for the items to be transferred to the different books. It does not take half an hour each week to do the clerical work, and it saves innumerable mistakes and accidents, besides furnishing proof of the relative value of each animal and piece of land.
On one side of the expense book all money spent is entered; on the other, all moneys received. A balance is struck every month and transferred to a general ledger, which, in turn, is balanced once a year.
Another thing that must be understood is that all profits must not be considered as a bonus to be used for personal pleasure. Some part of all moneys received should be set aside as working capital, otherwise improvement and extension are simply impossible.
Marketing home products advantageously is of paramount importance, and seems to be the point on which many beginners fail. Commission men and wholesale markets should not be resorted to, because home-grown products of all descriptions excel in quality and not in quantity; therefore, appeal to high-class private custom, who desire the very best, regardless of price.
I have never sold through any of the ordinary market channels, yet have always had more orders than I could fill and received a little more than the ordinary prices. Naturally the location of the home and the quality of the wares must influence the returns to some extent, but not half so much as the method of packing and shipping. Nicety in these respects captures the favor of customers and they take pride in exhibiting things to their friends—which is the very best sort of advertising a home business can have.
When I had reached the point where I knew that I could depend on a certain number of eggs regularly, I wrote to a doctor friend in the city and told him that I could promise to deliver six dozen strictly fresh-laid eggs twice a week for the whole year, at a uniform price of forty-five cents a dozen; customers to pay the express charges, which would be twenty-five cents on each six dozen. (Express companies return empty packages free of charge.) Within a month he had found four customers for me, who would take two dozen a week each, the box to be delivered at his house, where the other three customers were to call every Saturday and Wednesday.
All poultry-supply houses have wooden boxes for sale with divided trays, made to hold three, six or twelve dozen eggs, for about two dollars apiece. Before the year was out each of the three other customers had interested one or two friends, with the result that three six-dozen boxes were shipped three times a week, and the following winter I had orders from the same people for butter and table poultry.
In this way my market grew, as did my stock, and I never had any surplus to worry about. Of course, I realise that there was an element of good luck in having a doctor for a friend, but when there is no good Samaritan to start a clientele for you, energy will surely accomplish it; for every housekeeper longs to get good, fresh-delivered table delicacies which have not passed through a dozen hands.