y of food, but little comfort and no
holidays to speak of. Two or three years more of it, and then we shall
be in a condition to really enjoy the prosperity we have laboured for.

Except at shearing and lambing seasons, our Lincolns and Leicesters give
us but little trouble. We did try the merino breed, but they broke
through the fence and ran away into the bush, where we occasionally see
traces of them, and have once or twice caught one and turned it into
mutton. Shearing is a great business, but we are all accomplished hands
at it now, and our bales are larger every year as the flock increases.
Wool is ready money here, being an article that can always be negotiated
at once with the Auckland dealers. Our wool is reckoned of even better
quality than that grown on the great sheepwalks of Canterbury and Otago.

During a great part of the year we are milking ten to twenty cows daily,
and, in spite of the seeming inefficiency of our dairy arrangements, we
send a goodly store of butter and cheese to the township, whence it goes
to Auckland and elsewhere. We fatten pigs, too, on skim-milk, maize,
pumpkins, and peaches grown by ourselves. A score or two are usually to
be seen on the clearings round the shanty. We are able butchers and
curers; and Old Colonial excels in the manufacture of brawn, sausages,
collared head, and the like. Most of the pig-meat is consumed by
ourselves. In one form or other it is our staple food. But occasionally
we sell a barrel of pork, or some flitches and hams, to such local
buyers as the bushmen employed at the saw-mills.

Dandy Jack talks of introducing Angora goats. I do not know exactly why,
but he appears to think the project a good one. He has long ago given up
mere coaching. In fact, people began to have doubts about entrusting
themselves to his driving, though I hesitate to record such a
disagreeable matter. He joined our society some years ago, though he is
not always with us, gravitating invariably towards all the races, horse
and cattle fairs of the country. But he has set up as a horse breeder
and trainer, keeping his stud on our clearings, and thus adding another
industry to the various others of our pioneer farm. This is a good thing
for us, as Jack's horses come in very usefully sometimes, for carrying
or dragging purposes.

Our largest source of income just at present is the herd. First there is
the dairy business, which I have already spoken of. The milch cows keep
on the clea