OPENINGS IN CANADA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The following letter, by Mrs. N. H. Coombe, which was awarded a prize in the Toronto Financial Post for the best description of success on an Alberta farm, may interest your readers :— " In 1907 my husband and I homesteaded. We had just $70 and a few household effects. We built a shack and bought an ox team and a breaking plough, a few hens and a cow. Fair crops and _ gardens followed the cultivation of the sod. A brood sow and a hcirse were then purchased, calves were raised into cows, and a fine pen of hogs supplied us with meat and cash. To-day we own la head of horses, 35 cattle, and are milling five cows. All the land is cultivated and everything paid for. There is a full line of machinery, two gasoline engines, a motor car, garage, large two- story barn, and a five-roomed house, a small orchard and a berry plantation, beds of raro perennial flowers, an avenue of maples, an ice house and many portable granaries to house the increasing yields of grain. Labor-saving devices for household work have been installed. A telephone connects us with long distance and rural. Radio brings us news, concerts, lectures and church pro- grams. Education and musical advantages have been given the family. No help has been received ; the rich soil, ideal weather conditions and excellent pastures have brought about these results."
Previous page
