CHAPTER XX 
A RATION FOR PRODUCT 
NELSON was to commence work on the cow- 
house at once; at least, the mason was. I left 
the job as a whole to Nelson, and he made some 
sort of contract with the mason. The agreement 
was that I should pay $4260 for the barn com- 
plete. The machinery we put into it was very 
simple, —a water heater and two cauldrons for 
cooking food. All three cost about $60. 
Thompson had selected six cows, from those 
bought with the place, as worth wintering. They 
were now giving from six to eight quarts each, 
and were due to come in in April and May. An 
eight-quart-a-day cow was not much to my lik- 
ing, but Thompson said that with good care they 
would do better in the spring. “Four of those 
cows ought to make fine milkers,” he said ; “ they 
are built for it,—long bodies, big bags, milk 
veins that stand out like crooked welts, light 
shoulders, slender necks, and lean heads. They 
are young, too; and if you’ll dehorn them, I 
believe they’Il make your thoroughbreds hump 
themselves to keep up with them at the milk 
pail. You see, these cows never had more than 
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