At  the  side  of  the  fattening  corral,  Mr.  C.  has  a  winter
pasture,  where  108  animals  are  kept,  eighty  of  those  to  be  fat
tened  the  next  year.  The  others  are  cows  and  young  calves,
one  of  which,  born  three  days  before,  placidly  received  the
heavy  rain  on  its  back.  If  it  can  stand  such  a  test,  good  and
well;  if  it  dies,  one  must  just  console  oneself,  for  there  is  no
time  to  surround  it  with  precautions,  to  shut  it  up  in  a  stable
with  its  mother;  that  would  teach  it  sybaritic  habits,  to  which
the  hands  are  not  numerous  enough  to  attend.  Indeed,  Mr.
C.  has  only  one  man  to  help  him  in  looking  after  all  the  cattle
and  to  take  charge  of  the  work-horses.
This  little  ranch  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  a  limited  under
taking.  The  stock  fattened  is  not  usually  raised  here.  "  For
that,"  said  Mr.  C.,  "I  should  need  a  herd  of  500  head,  and  that
would  be  a  nice  mess."  Every  superfluous  care  is  avoided  as
much  as  possible,  and  the  business  is  conducted  with  little
capital.  It  is  the  installation  of  a  settler  with  small  means  and
preferring  to  have  less  income  in  the  long  run  than  to  risk


54  AMERICAN    LIFE.
large  sums  of  money.  The  French  character — sage,  steady,
economical,  but  with  little  enterprise — is  well  seen  in  these
traits.
