THE FARMER'S WIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 16

THE FARMER'S WIFE.

VALUE OP HER WORK. j ON HER DEPENDS SUCCESS. If a day comes when- a history is written of the economic development of New Zealand, as far as pioneer settlement is concerned, a lot of space will need to be devoted to the value of the work done by the wives of farmers. Many had to adjust themselves to quite novel conditions, and to face hardships they little dreamt of when they left the homeland. Evidence given by a farmer's wife, recently, showed what a | great asset a woman's patience is to her. In this particular instance, the wife had a herd of cattle of her own, and she explained how she built it up from one sickly calf which her husband did not think worth saving. Womanlike, she just mothered the weaklings, and whenever a calf was declared to be not worth rearing she got it given to her, and then cared for it. From her house allowance, she at last saved enough money to buy a young Jersey bull, and the result of her work was a herd of 35 dairy cows. The lady had her own brand, and because the herd was grazed on her husband's pasture, he was allowed to have the bntterfat cheques, the wife being content with increasing the number of her cattle.

Her husband had a horse which met with an accident. This, also, he decided should be destroyed, but his wife begged it off him, and by her care got it well again, so that she had also a horse of her own.

It is these little economies on farms that tell in the end, but there are times when the best laid plans go astray. An instance of this occurred to the wife of an orchardist. She decided that some money could be made by drying apples, and spent a lot of time paring and slicing the windfalls. These she spread out on sheets of corrugated iron in the sunshine for drying purposes. Just as her labours were about finished in that particular respect, an old mare that was grazing in the paddock found the apples and also learned that they were good to eat. The farmer saw his mare just after it had finished the apples and had been to the creek for a drink. The mare's lateral development after the water got inside was wonderful, for the reason that dried apples swell to about seven times their size when they are soaked. The farmer after making some emphatic remarks about feminine foibles, got the mare on the end of* a long rope, and kept it galloping round in a circle for an hour or two, which no doubt saved the animal's life. He then advised his better half to keep her dried apples in a safer place next time she made any.