CHAPTER VII 



THRESHING 



By this time we knew that threshing was well 

 under way further to the south, for each evening 

 during the past week the horizon and sky or 

 cloud above had been lit up with the light of 

 burning straw-stacks. " What waste ! " exclaims 

 the British farmer ; and so it is, in one sense, but 

 in the early stages of settlement it seems the 

 only course to adopt, for there are not enough 

 stock to make use of the straw, while the enor- 

 mous quantity, coupled with distance and cost of 

 freight to more populous centres, make burning 

 the only method of getting rid of it. , 



Hearing that a Mr. S had a powerful 



outfit and usually employed a large gang, also 

 that attached to it was a caboose for cooking 

 meals and sleeping purposes, we decided to try 

 him for a job. 



The caboose, which is a sort of large gipsy 

 van, adds much to the comfort of those engaged 

 in the work, and, as we shall see later on, where 



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