220 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



There was much snow in January and Feb- 

 ruary, and in March much rain. When the 

 spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of 

 water. This was fortunate, for April and May 

 were unusually dry months, only 1.16 inches of 

 water. 



The dry April brought the ploughs out early ; 

 but before we put our hands to the plough we 

 should make a note of what the first quarter of 

 1897 brought into our strong box. 



Sold: 



Butter $842.00 



Eggs 401.00 



Cow 35.00 



Two sows _ 19.00 



Total $1297.00 



Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, 

 and the other 9 in April, as also did 18 old 

 ones. The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and 

 the old ones 161, so that the spring opened with 

 an addition to our stock of 300 head of young 

 swine. 



Between March 1 and May 10 were born 

 25 calves, which were all sold before July 1. 

 The population of our factory farm was in- 

 creasing so rapidly that it became necessary to 

 have more help. We already had eight men and 

 three women, besides the help in the big house. 

 One would think that eight men could do the 

 work on a farm of 320 acres, and so they can, 

 most of the time ; but in seed-time and harvest 



