A Practical Treatise on Arithmetic ...

There should be an index to the leger precisely like one to an account book.

The following is an index to the preceding Leger.

Those who deal much in money, have a small book in which the cash received and paid, is recorded by itself. This book is called a cash book.

Example of a Cash Book formed from the preceding day book.

Note. We have stated that many persons abridge the day book in posting. Several things bought or sold the same day, they call sundries in the leger; when only one article is bought, or sold the same day, it is named, and cash is always named; thus David Brown's account, in the preceding leger, would stand as follows;

This method of abridging saves some labor in posting; besides much more can be written in the leger than by the other course. It should be adopted when the business is extensive.

Whose account in the preceding leger is marked as being settled? What is said of an index?

What do those who deal much in money have? What is it called? How do some persons abridge the day book in posting?

What does this method of abridging save? When should it be adopted?

The advantages of copying every charge in full into the leger, are as follows; any man's account can be drawn off with ease, without turning over the day book, and copying out the items of the account from perhaps ten or twenty different places; a new clerk, or a person but little skilled in Book-Keeping, can understand a leger so kept at a glance; a man can be shown the state of his account, and be satisfied with regard to each item of it without opening the day book, and exposing other people's accounts on the same pages as his own, showing him, perhaps, that some person has obtained an article for a smaller price than himself; also, if the day book is carried out to be used in a settlement, or a suit, the accounts can be kept in the leger during the interval, and afterwards, be copied into the day book.

LESSONS 231, 232, and 233.

Prepare a day book, leger and cash book, for Moses Harris of Lowell, and record in them the following transactions.

January 2, 1833, Mr. Harris bought of Cyrus Neal of Boston, 2 pieces of broadcloth, containing 56 yds., at $3.50 a yd., 6 pieces of sheeting, containing 159 yds. at 15 cts. a yd., 3 pieces of shirting containing 82 yds., at 14 cts. a yd., and 50 yds. of calico, at 20 cts. a yard. ; bought of David Pierce of Boston, 27 hats, at $3.15 a piece, and 16 pr. of boots at $3 a pr.; bought of Henry Gray of Boston, 3 hhds. of Molasses at $26 a hhd., 8 bls. of flour at $7.50 a bl., and 4 chests of green tea at $24 a chest, and paid Gray $100 in cash; Jan. 3, sold Tobias Cary of Tewksbury, 18 lbs. of feathers at 52 cts. a lb., and 263 yds. of shirting at 18 cts. a yd., and received of him 15 bushels of corn at 98 cts. a bushel; bought of Joshua Higgins 250 lbs. of cheese at 8 cts. a lb., paid Higgins $10 in cash, and agreed that he should take the rest of his pay in goods; Jan. 5, sold Henry Gray of Boston, 800 lbs. of butter, at 18 cts. a lb., 100 lbs. of cheese at 10 cts. a lb., and 20 doz. of eggs, at 20 cts. a doz.; bought of Silas Strong, 4 cords of oak wood at $5 a cord, and sold him 5 yards of broadcloth at $4.50 a yd.; Jan. 7, sold Joshua Higgins 1 hat for $4.50, 4 gals. of molasses, at 37 cts. a gallon, and 2 lbs. of coffee at 18 cts. a lb., and bought of him, 16 doz. of eggs at 14 cts. a doz. ; paid Cyrus Neal of Boston, $80 in cash; bought of Zebediah Burney of Boston, 400 lbs. of iron at 7 cts. alb., 2 casks of nails, containing 225 lbs. a

What are the advantages of copying each charge in full, into the leger?

piece, at 7 cts. a lb., 25 brooms, at 14 cts. a piece, and 12 axes, at $1.25 a piece; bought of Henry Gray of Boston, 60 bushels of salt at 40 cents a bushel, 1 hhd. of brown sugar, weighing 7 cwt. 3 qrs. 13 lbs., at 7 cts. a lb., 6 bls. of flour at $7 a bl., and 45 lbs. of raisins at 10 cts. a lb.; Jan. 8, sold John Williams, carpenter, 42 lbs. of nails at 9 cts. a lb., 1 broad-axe for $2, and 16 lbs. of cheese at 12 cts. a lb.; sold Thomas Gurney 1 piece of shirting containing 27 yds., at 19 cts. a yd., and a pair of boots for $4, and received of him, $5 in cash; Jan. 9, sent Henry Gray of Boston, $75 by Edward Stickney; sold Tobias Cary of Tewksbury, 8 lbs. of brown sugar at 10 cts. a lb., 4 lbs. of green tea at 38 cts. a lb., 2 gals. of molasses at 36 cts. a gal., and 6 lbs. of raisins at 16 cts. a lb.; sold Thomas Gurney 1 iron bar, weighing 15 lbs., at 10 cts. a lb., 1 stone hammer, weighing 12 lbs., at 163 cts. a lb.; bought of Jonas Howe of Dracut, 8 bls. of apples at $2.50 a bl., 25 bushels of rye, at $1 a bushel, and 14 bushels of corn at 95 cts. a bushel; Jan. 10, received of Tobias Cary of Tewksbury, $2 in cash; bought of Jonas Howe of Drucut, 11 bushels of beans at $1.50 a bushel, and sold him 1 axe for $1.75, 2 pr. of woollen mittens, at 37 cts. a pr. 6 pr. of woollen stockings at 413 cts. a pr., and 1 pr. of pantaloons for $4.75; Jan. 11, paid David Pierce of Boston, $100 in cash; bought of Cyrus Neal of Boston, 1 bale of sheeting, containing 400 yds., at 14 cts. a yd., and 2 pieces of blue cassimere, containing 21 yds. a piece, at $1.163 a yd.; Jan. 12, bought of Joshua Higgins 6 hogs, the total weight of which was 1,584 lbs., at 9 cts. a lb., and sold him 3 bls. of flour at $8 a bl., 112 lbs. of rice at 5 cts. a lb., 1 bl. of molasses, containing 30 gals., at 33 cts. a gal., and 1 quintal of cod fish for $4; Jan. 14, sold Henry Gray of Boston, 9 bls. of pork at $22 a bl.; bought of Tobias Cary of Tewksbury, of a pig, weight 118 lbs. at 10 cts. a lb., and 16 bushels of potatoes at 38 cts. a bushel; bought of Silas Strong, 25 lbs. of butter at 16 cts. a lb., and sold him 18 lbs. of salt fish at 4 cts. a lb.; Jan. 15, bought of Silas Strong a horse for $75, and paid the cash for him; sold Thomas Gurney 75 lbs. of cast steel at 124 cts. a lb., and 100 lbs. of iron at 5 cts. a lb.; Jan. 16, sold Jonas Howe of Dracut, 83 yds. of cassimere at $1.25 a yd., and 2 yds. of shirting at 18 cts. a yd.; sold Tobias Cary of Tewksbury, 2 bls. of flour at

$8.50 a bl., and settled; Jan. 17, sold John Williams, carpenter, a firkin of butter at 23 cts. a lb., the butter and tub weigh 58 lbs., and the tub is estimated to weigh 5 lbs., the tub is to be returned and the weight rectified; Jan. 18, bought of Cyrus Neal of Boston, 1 piece of broadcloth, containing 29 yds., at $4 a yd., and 2 bales of shirting, containing 400 yds., at 14 cts. a yd.

Note. To record the preceding transactions, double 1 sheet of letter paper, thereby making a short but wide day book of 8 pages. Also double 3 sheets of letter paper, thereby making a short but wide leger of 24 pages. In the leger on the last page but two, write the index, and on the last page but one, write the cash book. The charges should also be posted into another leger of the same size, by the abridged method.

OBSERVATIONS.

If a merchant takes an exact inventory or account of his unsold goods and of all the rest of his property, including the debts owed to him, and deducts from this sum the amount of the debts he owes, he will obtain the present value of his property. This, compared with the value of his property at a certain time before, shows what he has gained or lost since that time.

Book-Keeping by single entry is unfit for merchants engaged in extensive business; they usually keep their accounts by a system called double entry. A description of this system requires a treatise; a short account of it, like those appended to some arithmetics, is quite useless and insignificant. All persons should understand BookKeeping by the methods which we have explained. BookKeeping by double entry is necessary for a few only.

How can a merchant find the present value of his property, and his gain or loss since a certain time?

What is Book-Keeping by single entry unfit for? How do they usually keep their accounts? What is said of Book-Keeping by double entry? What is said of the necessity of understanding Book-Keeping by the different methods?