the outset. The modifications in it are various, consisting in the character of the land, the amount of capital available, the labour employed, and s

first operations over more quickly. But, more than that, they are not hampered by the necessity of making a living as t

of making a home, but with the desire to make a great pot. So, if he comes to New Zealand, he goes South as a general thing, and leases a vast run of natur

s to others, we were not blessed with much capital. Our joint purse contained just enough, as we calculated, and it did not cont

ly. In the South Island all the waste land is the property of the Crown-a nice little estate of about the size of England and Wales. Most o

selected our location-from such a creek to such a creek, and back from the river as far as such and such a range.

ng the boundaries and dimensions of our slice of forest. Said the surveyor, after plotting and planning and making a map, "T

r claim to the land, according to established usage, and receive a Crown grant as a legal title. This is then properly transferred to us, in lieu of our cheque. Various docum

t for the balance of the estate. As a concession on their side, the Maoris gave us the right of running cattle free over the unpaid-for acres. And as there were no fences, of course, this really meant that we might run our cattle over the whole country side, which was practically what we paid the interest or rent for. Then we entered into possession, and built the shanty. But observe wh

country. A thousand pounds would have bought our station outright. But we had not a thousand pounds among us, or anything like it; and we had to reserve money to live on for the first year, to buy our axes and spades and milk

as hard a thing to do in the colonies as it is at home, though people at home are ap

here come little scanty crops, increasing year by year, until at length the tree attains

estate, selection, place, farm, location, homest

t of it is a rich black humus, resting on clay and mountain limestone. In configuration it is of the roughest, like

ty to fifty feet in height, shrubs, creepers and undergrowth, as can well be conceived of. Where the thicket is thinner the trees are larger, and the smaller they are the denser the covert. If you wish to journey

rty feet, and even more, and of startling height. People cannot make farms out of that; at least, not all at once. The timber is slowly encroached upon to feed the saw-mills. Then the land so denuded can be done som

tanding, for it is not good to totally clear a large farm. Patches of bush are wanted for shade, for cover, and to keep up the supply of moistu

hem, you are apt to forget the more distant future, and go at everything before you with axe and fire. You w

, then, in the height of the dry season, managed a successful burn of the fallen stuff, letting the fire run among the standing bush where it would, and which it would not to any great extent, as the undergrowth

e. To procure material we went six or eight miles off, to a creek that ran through heavy bush. There we felled certain giant puriri trees, cut them into lengths, and split them up with wedges into posts an

comparatively easy work to punt the stuff into our own water. But then the carrying up from the landing-place, a quarter-mile or so, to the spot selec

ver work, and ta

derstand, for humping timber is one of the most undesirable occupati

We knew that kauri would give us less work, but the result would not be

y split timber. The rails are fixed into holes, bored and wedged in the posts. Slip-panels form an entrance. Such was our first stockyard-a substantial, thoroughly secure, and cattle-proof enclosure. And it is as good now as i

roduce stock. Our agent in Auckland bought for us a dozen good, young cows and a bull, which were despatched to us on a small schooner. She brought them up the river; and then they were dumped into the water, an

r home. The bull would not wander far from the cows, and we drove them up and yarded them, with a good feed of fresh koraka, every now and then. Besides the cattle we introd

or, though cattle find plenty of feed in the bush-leafage, and shoots of trees-sheep must be provided with grass, and there is no grass suitable for pasturage indigenous to Northern New Zealand. Accordingly

teady and continuous onslaught upon the woods. Everything must fall before the axe, and everything does fall. Once I was watching the prostration of a Worcestershire oak. It was a tree that might have had some twelve feet of girth. Three men and a boy were employed at it, armed with ro

e from the land of the Stars and Stripes. Why it should be so ask English cutlers. English tools and cutlery of all sorts cannot find a sale here; for bitter experience has taught us what inferi

the cutlery that we see anything of in the stores, if it be English, is thoroughly worthless. Why will English traders continue to suppose that any rubbish is good enough for the colonies? We are afraid to buy English implements and tools out here; and

gashed at about three feet from the ground. This saves the bushman's back, obviating the necessity of his stooping, and, moreover, allows him to get through more work. Also, in after years, when the stumps are rotten, they are more easily pulled out of the ground. By a sim

t time the fallen stuff has been pretty well dried in the summer sun, and will burn clean. Fires are started along the bottoms on days when the wind is

d is sown broadcast over the charred expanse. It soon sprouts up, and in a couple of months there will begin to be some pasturage. Before next season a good strong turf ought to have formed among the s

Such bush as ours would go at thirty shillings to three pounds an acre, according to the size of the trees on the average. A bushman reckons to earn five shillings a

omparatively large. And there is a good deal of luck in the burn, for if it be a bad one there may be weeks of logging afterwards. Sometimes, at the end of the season, a bushman

y find they are not earning a shilling a day, do all they may. The ordinary English agricultural labourer, transplanted here, does not seem to do better at this work at the start than the "young gentleman." His class take a lot of teaching, and anything new appears to be a tremendous diffi

in. A very necessary thing that; first, to keep the sheep in-and, second, to

fferent circumstances mainly influencing settlers in their choice. I need only mention fou

t two to five pounds a chain, or more; but it should require no repairs for ten or twelve years, and is proof against cattle, sheep, or pigs. The materials, whether kauri, totara, or oth

l not keep out wild pigs, and cattle, accustomed to force their way through the thickets of the bush, mistake wire fences for mere supple-jack, and walk st

the pioneer's mainstay, is a simple one of stakes. This is the kind we we

re cut eight or nine feet in length, so as to allow of a good six feet above ground when set up. Red, black, and white birch are used, also red and white ti-tree, the last variety being most esteemed, as it is more durable. A stake-fence ought to be proo

close it. Practically, there were nearer a hundred chains of boundary. Each chain required from a hundred to a hundred and thirty stakes. This is about the number that one of us could cut in the day, and bring out of the adjoining b

ther was wet, and the ground soft, the work was naturally lighter. After the stakes were set up we had to batten them together. We bought several boatloads of battens-rough outside boards split up, and the like-for next to nothing, at

ranges, or stretching across the gullies. Amidst the grass is a dazzling perspective of black and white stumps, looking like a crop of tombstones, seen endways; and round the whole careers, uphill and down dale, the

e upon a certain chair, elsewhere described, I do not know; but his gates are a marvel of ingenuity, and really very capital contrivances. Only, he is so vain of his performance

acia, Vermont damson, Osage orange, and other hedge material. We have now some very good and sightly hedges. Luckily, we never tried whins, or furze, as her

s submerged under whins or sweetbriar, and there are forests of thistles, which march onward and devour all before them. Whins you cannot clear, unless by toil inadequate to the present value of l

red, and it straggles on light soils; moreover, it is always needing attention. We have no time to spare

ate sustenance. The pigs were bred and well looked after, fattened, butchered, made into pork, or cured. Poultry was also carefully regarded, especi

bit of land, and using it for our next year's crop of potatoes, kumera, or maize. Some of these e

ended two or three acres on the shoulder of a low range, and was once the site of a Maori kainga, or village. Hence, the scrub that covered it was not of large growth, while the soil

ourse, a hard job, the ground being full of roots. We threw out these as we dug, or left them; it does not matter much, for as long as we just covered the seeds

developed into an avenue of fine trees. We also set cuttings of fig-tr

k of our food-supply for the future. We have since seldom had to buy anything but our flour,

f our start, I may go on to speak of thin