376 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



during the winter, and so had the small steer who 

 arrived in the middle of a grain-field in the pre- 

 ceding August. Blacky, his mother, was the cow 

 who drank her own milk, and her efforts to steal her 

 own calf were amazingly original. Mr. Wilton, after 

 having tried every device to secure her milk for the 

 household, had eventually decided that she might 

 reserve for her offspring what she stole from her 

 owner, and let them run together. This probably 

 accounted for the unusual size and strength of her 

 young steer. John McLeay always allowed his 

 calves to have all the milk until they ran dry ; and 

 undoubtedly in cattle-raising, quite apart from the 

 toil and profit of dairy-farming, this is the best 

 method of raising good beasts for food. 



The only disappointment in connexion with 

 Mr. Wilton's charge was the pigs. Out of thirty- 

 three born in April only three survived, and the 

 other three sows did not farrow until June, too late 

 for November markets. It is possible, with excel- 

 lent feeding, to sell April sows at a good profit in 

 the fall of the year ; but one ought not to have to 

 keep spring-born pigs through the winter, and it 

 is only wise to encourage the coming of the second 

 family where winter accommodation is perfect. 

 But at the end of the seeding month of 1908 the 

 stock and grain had an air of promise. There was 

 very little work to be done. Under thirty acres to 

 plough, and the hay to make, which in one of 

 Canada's brilliant working seasons is neither a hard 

 nor a lengthy business. I had to buy seed-oats 

 and barley as my own were not sufficiently clean, 

 but the clouds were clearing off, and I had leisure 

 to read and to do a great deal of writing ; and 



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