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Agriculture.

At the close of the agricultural year it is a good time to prepare plans for operation of the next year's business. A thorough system of farm accounts is something that is very much neglected by farmers. They are, as a class, much more negligent in this respect than any other business men. Few farmers, indeed, know what they really receive from their farms, or what they expend on them, what crops they make a profit on, and what are cultivated at a loss. There are books prepared for the keeping of farm accounts, by which an exact knowledge of all the details of the business can be known at the end of the year, but it is not our purpose in this article to more than refer to this part of the subject. What is received from the farm by the farmer and his family is apt to be overlooked, in great part, and hence the majority of farmers are liable to be deceived in computing the direct benefits they are indebted to their farms for. The business man in town handles many times more cash in the course of a year than his farmer friend who transacts a similar volume of business, but he is compelled to pay out his profits in purchasing every article of food which supplies his table. The farmer has as part of his working material, horses and vehicles, which he can use at his pleasure. His vegetables grow with the other farm crops, and he scarcely notices the time or labor required to produce them. The grain out of which your bread is made, is a part of the general crop. So also with respect to the pork, beef, poultry, milk, butter, eggs, fruit, etc. They are a part of the products of the farm which constitute the staple of the family's living, and which in actual outlay of cash to him, is exceedingly small compared to their cost to the city or town resident. The dwellers in towns and cities have to forego the pleasures of horse and carriage almost entirely, the cost being too heavy to admit of this luxury. The well-to-do residents of towns, after providing for their families, seldom have anything left. Those receiving what is considered the best salaries, after table expenses, rent, fuel, clothing and other incidental bills are paid, have expended their entire income, and have frequently to skimp matters to come out even. The same amount of capital invested in farming and stock will produce more, if the farm is given full credit for all it supplies, than it will invested in almost any business in towns or cities. If the same economy and business ability is exercised by the farmer that have, through necessity, to be made use of in city business, the farm will show the best balance sheet at the year's end, in ninety cases out of a hundred. The rough character of farm labor, and the privations of that variety in society which the town affords and the farm does not, are the strong repelling influences farming has to encounter. In point of gain not one farmer in twenty could make anything like a success in the town that he does on his farm, with the same amount of capital and brains to work with. The farm seldom gets the credit justly due it.