58 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



" I have sent for every stick of timber and every 

 cobbling block I own, to get this house over that 

 hole ; there's no money in this job for me ; you 

 ought to have dug the cellar after the house was 

 placed," said he. 



I made friends with him by agreeing to pay 

 $30 more for the job. The house was safely 

 placed, and by Saturday night the foundation 

 walls were finished. 



Sam and Zeb had made a good beginning on 

 the ploughing, the teams were doing well for 

 green ones, and the men seemed to understand 

 what good ploughing meant. Thompson and 

 Johnson had spent parts of two days in the 

 potato patches in deadly conflict with the bugs. 



" We've done for most of them this time," 

 said Thompson, " but we'll have to go over the 

 ground again by Monday." 



The next piece of work was to clear the north 

 forty (lots 1 to 5) of all fences, stumps, stones, 

 and rubbish, and all buildings except the cottage. 

 The barn was to be torn down, and the horses 

 were to be temporarily stabled in the old barn 

 on the home lot. Useful timbers and lumber 

 were to be snugly piled, the manure around the 

 barns was to be spread under the old apple trees, 

 which were in lot No. 1, and everything not use- 

 ful was to be burned. " Make a clean sweep, 

 and leave it as bare as your hand," I told 

 Thompson. " It must be ready for the plough 

 as soon as possible." 



