Dairying in the Olden Bays 93 



I heard this story about a farmer in 'way back 

 times, whose wife made skim-milk cheese. He was 

 too poor to buy a grindstone so he mortised a hole 

 in one of these cheeses, put in a wooden shaft, at- 

 tached a crank, and so overcame the difficulty. 

 Those skim-milk cheeses were, when aged, about 

 as tough, indestructible and indigestible compo- 

 sitions as were ever compounded by the hand of 

 man or woman. 



DOG CHUBNS 



I omitted to state in connection with the churn- 

 ing part of the dairy business, that some of the 

 more ingenious and inventive pioneers rigged up 

 dog churns — a form of treadmill. I know at least 

 half a dozen farms where dog-churning outfits may 

 be seen, but these are not now in use. Large col- 

 lies or Newfoundland dogs were the favourite 

 breeds for such work and I am informed that it 

 was not unusual that the dog had to be searched 

 for on churning day. The canine could tell by the 

 movement about the dairy or milkhouse when a 

 hard-work sentence was about due and would 

 crawl under the barn or hide in the shrubbery. 

 I've known, too, of small boys who absented them- 

 selves from home on churning days. 



OXEN WISE, TOO 



I recall that a yoke of oxen I possessed in my 

 homesteading days out West showed "wisdom," 

 too, in avoiding hard work. At noon when plough- 



