Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/280

 254 I have observed, on a former occasion, that our wheat costs the grower 10s. per bushel; it has since been calculated at 15s. per bushel. Our neighbour, Mr. B., charges 4s. a bushel for grinding it; other expenses, of lost time, &c., are 1s. per bushel more. If we send it to Perth, where it is ground for 2s. per bushel, the distance makes the expense equal to Mr. B's. charge; or, if we grind it by hand, the time occupied, the first price of the mill, and its continued repairs, prevent any reduction in the expense of its manufacture. It occupied a very great part of the time of my two men, and they were constantly breaking the mill, which had cost me 5l.; so that you see our ground wheat (whole meal) costs about 28s. per cwt. I cannot help thinking of the beautiful fine American flour, some of which I bought at 13s. per cwt. As to oaten meal, none has ever been ground here, nor is it likely; so that even for medical purposes it would be in demand with us, setting aside the Irish and Scotch in its favour. I am sure it would sell at from 25s. to 28s. per cwt.

I had sent James to borrow a seed riddle, and was on the look out for some pigs that were trying to circumvent the garden, when I heard a jabbering, and lo! ten natives were in the act of admiring them at the river-side. As I thought they might carry their admiration to the inconvenient extent of carrying them off, I slipped into