country, by letter, for the necessary animals. I found it difficult
to get just what I wanted. Perhaps I wanted too much. This is what I
asked for: A registered young sow due to farrow her second litter in
March or April. By dint of much correspondence and a considerable outlay
of money, I finally secured nineteen animals that answered the
requirements. I got them in twos and threes from scattered sources, and
they cost an average price of $31 per head delivered at Four Oaks. A
young boar, bred in the purple, cost $27. My foundation herd of Chester
Whites thus cost me $614,--too much for an economical start; but, again,
I was in a hurry.

The hogs began to arrive in February, and were put into temporary
quarters pending the building of the house for the brood sows, which
house must now be described.

It was a low building, 150 by 30 feet, divided by a six-foot alley-way
into halves, each 150 by 12 feet. Each of these halves was again divided
into fifteen pens 10 by 12 feet, with a 10 by 30 run for each pen. This
was the general plan for the brood-house for thirty sows. At the east
end of this house was a room 15 by 30 feet for cooking food and storing
supplies for a few days. The building was of wood with plank floors. It
stands there yet, and has answered its purpose; but it was never quite
satisfactory. I wanted cement floors and a more sightly building. I
shall probably replace it next year. When it was built the weather was
unfavorable for laying cement, and I did not wish to wait for a more
clement season. The house and the fences for the runs cost $2100.

On the 6th of March Thompson called me to one of the temporary pens and
showed me a family of the prettiest new-born animals in the world,--a
fine litter of no less than nine new-farrowed pigs. I felt that the
fourth industry was fairly launched, and that we could now work and
wait.

CHAPTER XXII

THE OLD ORCHARD

March was unusually raw even for that uncooked month. The sun had to
cross the line before it could make much impression on the deep frost.
After the 15th, however, we began to find evidences that things were
stirring below ground. The red and yellow willows took on brighter
colors, the bark of the dogwood assumed a higher tone, and the catkins
and lilac buds began to swell with the pride of new sap.

If our old orchard was to be pruned while dormant, it must be done at
once. Thompson and I spent five days of hard work among the trees,