- 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.
_Implements_ have been reduced about 35 per cent for their two years'
wear.
_Carriages_ being new, we have taken nothing off them.
_Pigs_ have the cost of their feeding added; the young ones taken at
an average of ten dollars.
_Furniture_. - A slight deduction for wear and tear.
_Oats_. - We are calculating 2,500 bushels off 181 acres.
_Hay_ is difficult to calculate; I do not think we have 400 tons. The
price now is very low; 5 dollars a ton, and it would cost us three
dollars to get it into Winnipeg.
_Potatoes_ are uncertain. They are worth one dollar a ton now, and if
we can manage to keep them during the winter they will be worth a good
deal more; but they are difficult to keep, although we have a good
root-house; If the frost happens to get to them they will all spoil;
and it is difficult to keep the frost out, going as it does twelve
feet into the ground.
_The Fence_ is quite worth the money; so you see that putting most
things at a low price, one has a certain profit, though not in hard
cash; and it is satisfactory to find that one hasn't been working for
two seasons for nothing. No one expects a farm to pay in this country
during the first two years.
Original Value. Dollars. Present Value Dollars
Land, 480 acres 4,110 worth 30 dollars an acre 14,400
Building 2 houses and 2 stables 4,814 4,814
Horses - 2l horses 4,326 3,000
1 stallion
Cattle - 84 cows 2,668 80 cows and 46 calves 3,700
Carriages 229 229
Harness 407 300
Implements 1,810 800
Pigs 125 Pigs and 29 young 350
Poultry 20 33 chickens 40
Furniture 495 400
Profit and Losses 10,681
Oats 2,500 bushels at 50 cents 1,250
Hay 400 tons at 5 dollars 2,000
Potatoes 1,000 bushels at 1 dollar 1,000
Flax 100
Wire Fence 500
______ ______
29,180 32,888
N.B. - The profit and loss comprises the wages to labourers and cost
of living of both masters and men.
This estimate is given after two years' farming.
End of A Lady's Life on a Farm in Manitoba by Mrs. Cecil Hall
