CHAPTER XVII. 



Ranching Successes. 



My colonial career has by no means been an 

 uninterrupted series of stumbles, mistakes, and 

 failures, as perhaps this narrative would make it 

 almost exclusively appear. In our progress there 

 have been several bright and happy results. Many 

 of these are intangible, as difficult to fix in the form 

 of precise description as are the rains which water the 

 earth or the sunshine which ripens and colours the 

 fruit. But elusive though some of them be, others 

 do admit of being recorded in a form which every 

 reader can appreciate. 



One measure of success, which was vouchsafed 

 before we were six months resident in the country, 

 was a success for which we may reasonably claim a 

 degree of personal merit. I mean the prizes we won 

 for flowers and vegetables at the Nelson Fruit Fair 

 in September, 1907. Nevertheless, that achievement 

 would have been impossible had not the soil of Ben- 

 nington and the climate of the Kootenays so ad- 

 mirably seconded our efforts. Six first prizes and 

 three second prizes out of ten exhibits as the result of 

 five months' work — that was success No. 1. 



Success number two was won two months later, in 

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