Homesteading 



" In my place, guess you would want more ? " 



" Mebbe, mebbe ! " said the young fellow. 



" You must stand me another half dollar," 

 I remarked. 



*' Well, we will call it that," said Jones. 



Though there was slight frost in the night, 

 the next day proved fair, and we were early 

 at work. 



They had already cut and shocked some forty 

 acres of wheat, and Jones started in with his 

 fine team on the oats, deciding to leave the wheat 

 awhile, as it was very poor, and it was more im- 

 portant to try and save the oats, which were 

 now the most valuable crop. 



In places they were so heavy that the eight- 

 foot binder would only take a four-foot cut, but 

 the sheaves were so rank and green about the 

 butts that some of them must have weighed forty 

 pounds or more, and it took Andy and myself 

 all our time to keep up with the binder. 



To the British farmer it may seem strange 

 that three men should hope to handle a crop of 

 two hundred acres under such circumstances, and 

 indeed it is a tough job ; nevertheless, it is the 

 sort of thing that is constantly done on the 

 prairie. 



To harvest the crop of such a season as we 

 were experiencing adds enormously to the labour, 



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