CIIAPTKR IX. 



R.\NtIIlNG IncIUKNTS. 



Close to the house at Bonnington Falls was a 

 stretch of something like half an acre of almost level 

 ground. At first sight it did not appear to be 

 promising as a field for cultivation, and I dare say 

 we should never have attempted to make use of it in 

 that way — at all events, not at that early stage of the 

 proceedings — had it not been for some gooseberry 

 bushes already growing on it. It was thickly strewn 

 with stones, mostly small. But the former owner of 

 the ranch, who indeed had squatted on the land (or, 

 in Canadian language, "staked" it), had picked off 

 the stones, leaving them in four rows, one on each 

 side of the gooseberry bushes. Our breakfast used 

 to be ready at half-past six; consequently there was 

 half an hour, and sometimes an hour, to spare before 

 that meal. This time was utilised by some of us in 

 picking off the stones and building them up into a 

 wall, intended to serve as a fence. As fast as the 

 stones were cleared off we dug the ground, and 

 eventually we planted part of it wMth a choice collec- 

 tion of dahlias, which I had brought out with me 

 from England. This ground proved to be the best 

 of all the pieces that we cultivated. At the fruit fair 



66 



