Five Years in Canada. By W. M. Elkington. (Whittaker and
Co.)—The writer of this volume went out in 1889 to learn farming from a settler near Strathcluir on the Manitoba and North- Western Railway. After a while he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres at Qu'Appelle. The country seems to have been sufficiently fertile, for oats sometimes yield one hundred bushels per acre, and wheat sixty. (How, we wonder,
comes the average to be so low throughout Canada and the States ?) Fish seem to be provided on an equally bountiful scale, for the author speaks of securing 500 lb. (of pike) in a day. Among other remarkable objects in the North-West they have an "Episcopal Bishop," and probably, though he is not men- tioned, a non-Episcopal. There is spmething to be learnt from the book. We note that Mr. Elkington was sorry to leave his ranche. He gives this balance-sheet :—
To Start With— In Three Years-
100 cows... ... £700 100 two year olds.. £600 20 mares ... ... 240 100 yearlings ... 400 100 calves ... ... 266 15 two year colts.. 125 15 yearlings 86 15 foals ... ... 50 Stock will have increased from £940 to £1,527.
Beggars on Horseback. By Martin Ross and C. CE. Somerville. (Blackwood and Sons.)—Two ladies go on a riding tour through various parts of Wales, and describe what they saw and what they felt. The authors try their hardest to amuse ; possibly their efforts might have been more successful if they had been less strenuous. The illustrations are decidedly good.
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