BUILDING 15 



small end. All dry wood, suitable for fuel, can be 

 taken at any time without permission. 



When choosing a site for your house, endeavour 

 to build it in a position as sheltered from the north 

 wind as possible, and not too far from your water- 

 supply. The homestead should be at least 3 miles 

 away from your nearest neighbour, with plenty of 

 good hay-grass within a reasonable distance. Do 

 not be afraid of settling down 30, or even 100, miles 

 from a town if, by so doing, you can insure the 

 advantages I have mentioned. Close crowding is the 

 most fatal mistake you can make if you wish to 

 succeed^with ranching. The question of the material 

 used for construction now must be considered, and 

 this is largely a matter of how much you can afford 

 to lay out upon it. A good four-roomed frame 

 house would cost you anything between $500 and 

 SI, 500, according to the quality of workmanship 

 and lumber employed. The careful beginner, how- 

 ever, will be wise (especially if he have no family 

 with him) to content himself with quite a modest 

 structure to commence with, formed of square pine 

 or cotton-wood logs placed one upon the other, 

 neatly grooved or dovetailed at the corners, the 

 interstices being filled in (" chinked," as it is termed) 

 with good cement, or the more homely " gumbo " 

 (a kind of sticky white clay, found in patches, more 



