bouring man, though he have land of his own, is often, I may
say generally, obliged to _hire out_ to work for the first year or two,
to earn sufficient for the maintenance of his family; and even so many
of them suffer much privation before they reap the benefit of their
independence. Were it not for the hope and the certain prospect of
bettering their condition ultimately, they would sink under what they
have to endure; but this thought buoys them up. They do not fear an old
age of want and pauperism; the present evils must yield to industry and
perseverance; they think also for their children; and the trials of the
present time are lost in pleasing anticipations for the future.

"Surely," said I, "cows and pigs and poultry might be kept; and you know
where there is plenty of milk, butter, cheese, and eggs, with pork and
fowls, persons cannot be very badly off for food."

"Very true," replied my friend; "but I must tell you it is easier to
talk of these things at first than to keep them, unless on cleared or
partially cleared farms; but we are speaking of a _first_ settlement in
the backwoods. Cows, pigs, and fowls must eat, and if you have nothing
to give them unless you purchase it, and perhaps have to bring it from
some distance, you had better not be troubled with them, as the trouble
is certain and the profit doubtful. A cow, it is true, will get her
living during the open months of the year in the bush, but sometimes she
will ramble away for days together, and then you lose the use of her,
and possibly much time in seeking her; then in the winter she requires
some additional food to the _browse_* that she gets during the chopping
season, or ten to one but she dies before spring; and as cows generally
lose their milk during the cold weather, if not very well kept, it is
best to part with them in the fall and buy again in the spring, unless
you have plenty of food for them, which is not often the case the first
winter. As to pigs they are great plagues on a newly cleared farm if you
cannot fat them off-hand; and that you cannot do without you buy food
for them, which does not answer to do at first. If they run loose they
are a terrible annoyance both to your own crops and your neighbours if
you happen to be within half a mile of one; for though you may fence out
cattle you cannot pigs: even poultry require something more than they
pick up about the dwelling to be of any service to you, and are often
taken off by ha