WIFE SUBSTITUTED FOR HORSE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 41, 12 November 1937, Page 8

WIFE SUBSTITUTED FOR HORSE

Draws The Plough SYDNEY FARMER’S USEFUL HELPMEET Sydney, November 5. Because there is no horse on their farm, Mrs. Edwin Higson, Glenorie, about 40 miles from Sydney, pulls the plough while her disabled husband steers. “In one day we ploughed nearly an acre; I did a big wash, and then scrubbed out my three rooms,” said Mrs. Higson. She has been drawing the plough for two years since they cleared the first patch of their, rough, hilly block of 42 acres. The plough is a light one, specially built by the local blacksmith. After building their home on a Crown grant, they have cultivated two acres, now planted with passion fruit, peas, beans and tomatoes. Mrs. Higson also draws a scarifier to cultivate the little patch. “Yes, they call me the horse round here," Mrs. Higson said, with a smile. “You see, we haven’t the money to buy a horse yet. We are ouly just beginning to make our way. My husband often tells me to steer while he pulls the plough. I say, ‘No thanks. I’d rather pull. I might run out of the furrow.’ ”

Mrs. Higson said that her busband was a partially disabled Imperial exserviceman. He was wounded in France. He has been 12 years in Australia, before which he had had no experience of farming. The couple have been married 11 years, but have no children.

In spite of her busy life, Mrs. Higson has found time to carry buckets of soil to cover the rocky patches near her home, and to start a flower garden.