BUSH-FARMING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10237, 13 May 1911, Page 4

BUSH-FARMING.

Writing under the title "Bush, Farming," a, .oorrespondent of the Press says:— Suppose two men take five hundred acres each. Let ten yeans elapse. One man had money enough to put down all his busS the'first year and has had nine years' takings off the place. The other maoi put down fifty acres the first year, and was six or seven years in getting all down. He has had the greateat difficulty to finance at all. He has only ibeen running the cheapest kind of stock. Which of these men has got the best returns ? Is it neeessary to .see his books? No, bush does not fall like the walls of Jericho. You may talk of axes and good right arms, you may throw in the left a« well, but it .boils down to money, amd the more money you. have to /start with the less at will cost you to get your ibustti down. And any .man''would, be better off on wages, than at putting his own hush down, save for one hard and solemn fact. No man on wages ha.s ever lived as hard and frugally as the bush settler ©imply has to. When it conies to humping all your .stores in on your back, your tucker bill is not a heavy one, though you are' cruelly pushed to meet it at alii. And, anyliow, is money everything ? You meet the bushman at the show, and you write of Mm as hearty awd hale. Have you ever examined his hands? Have you counted his scars? J Do you know how .many of his limbs ka.ve. been broken ? May I mention rheumatism ? Or heart strain ? Four poundis an acre ? Yes, hut how many years, of life? "Good Lord, we ha' paid in full."