provide ploughs, horses, bullocks, etc., or to carry out the plan
usually adopted, that of letting the land to colonists who have had some
experience in this class of work. Usually a colonist will undertake to
cultivate from 500 to 600 acres, and agrees to pay to the landowner
anything from 10 per cent. to 30 per cent. of his crops according to the
distance of the land from the railway. The colonist brings his
agricultural tackle along with him, and establishes his house (usually a
most primitive affair), digs his well, and then proceeds to plough. In
this work the whole family joins; the father leads the way, followed by
the eldest child, and all the others in rotation, with the wife bringing
up the rear; she keeps a maternal eye upon the little mite, who with
great gusto and terrific yells manages somehow to cling to the plough
and to do his or her share with the rest. Is it to be wondered at that
work progresses fast under these conditions? There is but one idea
prevalent in the family, namely, that time and opportunity are with
them.

The first crop grown on newly-broken ground is usually maize; the second
year's crop is linseed, and perhaps a third year's crop--probably
wheat--is grown by the colonist before the land is handed back to the
owner ready to be put down in alfalfa. The colonist's cultivation of the
land will have effectually killed off the natural rough grasses which
would otherwise grow up and choke the alfalfa. Sometimes the alfalfa is
sown with the colonist's last crop, and in such cases the landowner
finds the alfalfa seed, and during the sowing of this crop it is very
advisable that either he or his agent should be in constant attendance,
because the after results greatly depend upon the care with which the
seeding has been done. When the colonist's contract is completed he
moves on to another part, and the owner, who has year by year received a
percentage of the crops, takes back his land. Considerable outlay has