60 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



In that first year against my harvest receipts was 

 the sum for harvest labour, binder-twine, threshing 

 bill, daily expenses attached to hauling ; and the 

 only addition stock offered was through the sale of 

 seven small pigs, which cost twenty-two dollars fifty 

 and sold for thirty- five dollars. Also in the light 

 of the year that followed I must acknowledge my 

 housekeeping bills to be of extraordinary amount, the 

 sum total between August 23 and December 31 

 standing at five hundred and nineteen dollars thirty. 

 Many a woman has come to me within the last two 

 years with a proposal to start farming in Canada on 

 less than that amount. It must be remembered 

 that for harvest and threshing seasons, and during 

 the visit of the carpenters, the provisions account 

 was heavy, and nothing is cheap in Canada if one 

 has to buy it ; but it is possible to provide oneself 

 with almost everything but groceries from the 

 farm, and with even two good milch cows grocery 

 bill and dairy sales should balance accounts. Indeed, 

 I remember in looking over the ready-made farms 

 in the Shaughnessy colonies I came across an able 

 man and woman who assured me they were able 

 to pay the total expenses of their living barring, 

 of course, the land payments from the produce of 

 three milch cows. 



Also my housekeeping bill included some articles 

 of furniture and a few expensive necessities such as 

 cook-stove, fifteen dollars ; wood for fuel, twenty- 

 four dollars ; second-hand box-stove with bedroom 

 heater, eight dollars. Two bedsteads, two tables, 

 half a dozen chairs, pots and pans, &c. Then there 

 was a suite of bedroom furniture from Eaton's of 

 Winnipeg, which cost eight dollars, and a bath which 



