BACKWOODS AND PRAIRIES.

355

winter, and now the second year he may add to his possessions the following :   

Dols.

3 Good Cows,..      ..       ..      .. .45

3 Two-year-old Heifers, ..      ..      .. 21

12 Half-year-old Hogs, ......12

12 Sheep,.......... 18

One Fan Mill...........40

Sundries,   ..       ..      ..      ..      .. 54

190

leaving 300 dollars for any little enterprize or contingencies which may turn up. Every year wiil now find our adventurer increasing in substance; and with prudence and well-directed industry, always accompanied with a blessing from on high, he may enjoy life to its close without those overburdening cares and anxieties which perplex the minds of many farmers in our own country, whose high rents and precarious returns make their lives from year to year a continual riddle to themselves.

It will be seen from the foregoing estimate that the man who started with   110 made a tight enough beginning, hut still with a firm hand and patient continuance, might arrive at a favourable issue at the close of his first year. The man, however, who has   200 at command may consider himself a happy man, for he can purchase eighty acres at the first, and may erect a better house, with barn and outhouses, sufficient to serve his purpose for the first five years at least.

Where the emigrant's capital exceeds   200, and up to   1000, the mere difficulties of settlement are nothing whatever. With the increased capital, of course, a man will naturally desire a greater extent of land, and if he purchase as much as five hundred acres, he can improve gradually as he may choose.

A man who has a family willing and able to help him, possesses in that an advantage of no ordinary kind. If the family consists of young members, or of girls, the advantages are not so great, but they will in a few years be of signal use in various ways. Boys of twelve and fourteen, can make themselves useful at ploughing, harrowing, looking after stock. Girls can spin flax and wool, milk the cows, and make up clothing, knit, and keep things tidy, under the eye of their mother.   Where the family is young, the settler