220 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
There was much snow in January and Feb- 
ruary, and in March much rain. When the 
spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of 
water. This was fortunate, for April and May 
were unusually dry months, —only 1.16 inches of 
water. 
The dry April brought the ploughs out early ; 
but before we put our hands to the plough we 
should make a note of what the first quarter of 
1897 brought into our strong box. 
Sold: 
Butter . Be st ae fe ha tat ee 
BR ee eh he ee yet 
Cow of). 60 fel ghar Ars ania 
Two sows POR Verner iy Sree eB Ee 2 
TOW) se wi te ae pen a 
Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, 
and the other 9 in April, as also did 18 old 
ones. The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and 
the old ones 161, so that the spring opened with 
an addition to our stock of 300 head of young 
swine. 
Between March 1 and May 10 were born 
25 calves, which were all sold before July 1. 
The population of our factory farm was in- 
creasing so rapidly that it became necessary to 
have more help. We already had eight men and 
three women, besides the help in the big house. 
One would think that eight men could do the 
work on a farm of 820 acres, and so they can, 
most of the time; but in seed-time and harvest 
