Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/185

 country. On very many of the large farms where thousands of gallons of milk are got yearly, the cow bails are merely put up in a row at one side of the yard without either flooring or roofing to keep off sun or rain. I do not say that all are conducted in this way, but a great many are, and the reason I think is because most of those who sell milk start on so little capital. Not long ago a man who has made a big fortune by selling milk told me that he began with three cows and a bucket, not another thing—not even a foot of land of his own, he simply let his cows run on the town reserves. Here is a case which may be an encouragement to others left in the same position:—A woman living near me was left a widow quite unexpectedly, and with two young children, the youngest three weeks old. She was utterly destitute, so much so that her neighbours had even to feed her and her children. After discussing all kinds of ways and means by which she might earn a living, I suggested a couple of cows, and having a good many squatting friends I wrote to them on her behalf, stating her position, &c. The result was that among them I succeeded in getting the loan (which I suggested would be better than giving outright, as I have a great idea that everyone should be independent if they can) of three cows. And with these she made a start, supplying a few of her neighbours with milk. Fortunately, she was a hard working, energetic little woman, and after she had delivered her milk in the mornings she used to dig a bit in the garden, there being a good sized piece of ground to the house she rented (indeed one could hardly call it a house, a shed I should have written). She grew a few sticks of sugar cane, with which she fed her cows while milking them. She also grew a little patch of corn giving the stalks to the cows afterwards. I started her with a few fowls, every egg from which she set for the first season, and she was one of the first I ever saw give sunflower seeds to the fowls as food, though I had heard of them being grown for that purpose. From this very humble beginning this woman has now developed a fairly large farm. When I last heard of her she was milking 14 cows (all her own), and was dealing in most other farm produce, being one of the very few whites selling vegetables in that part. This instance, the truth of which I can vouch for may be an encouragement to other women left upon their own resources. I do not think her case is singular, for I have known of several women who have done much the same. One, indeed, a domestic servant who, finding service too hard work, saved her money and bought two cows as a beginning, and did very well; but she had been used to the care of cows and dairy work at home. I have written down these cases in the vague hope of their being useful to some enterprising woman or other left unprovided for, for what one woman can do another can.