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LONDON, December, 1882.
Since arriving in England I have received the following letter from my brother in Manitoba, and as I want this book to be a sort of guide to colonists I think it well to add it:—
C—— FARM, November 14th.
I am writing now to send you a kind of statement of our farm accounts; though it cannot be quite correct, this year's crop of oats not having been thrashed out, so that the calculation can only be approximate.
1st. The Land.—The cost of the land is taken as the first purchase-money and the amount it has cost to bring 410 acres under cultivation.
2nd. The Buildings.—They consist of two dwelling-houses and two stables; one of the houses, being for the men, is also used as a warehouse and granary.
The contract price was very low, and also the price of timber; now both gone up, but put down at the original cost.
3rd. The Horses.—Valued, I think, rather low at 250 dollars a team; 500 dollars for the stallion. The 4,326 dollars include their cost; the amount of oats and hay they have eaten.
The Cows.—Include their original cost, hay and percentage of keep. The price of cattle now is high; we sold two cows this summer at an average price of 75 dollars.