His 400 acres would probably give him only 50 acres of farming, cleared land; but adjoining, or at any rate near by, he would find land belonging still to the Government, or untilled and unfenced, for his cattle to range over. He would have, say, 20 acres of wheat, giving him 500 bushels, and 30 acres of oats and timothy-hay, yielding 600 bushels of oats, of which 200 would be for sale, and the rest for use and seed, and 30 tons of hay. He would have, say, 40 cattle, of which 15 would come into market each year. The average value of these would be $18, or $270 in all. Add 20 hogs at $10, or $200 in all. He must also raise and sell three colts a year, giving him $150. Looking to smaller items of profit, the farmer's wife should have ten pounds of butter a week to sell, at any rate, through the summer months, which at 20 cents a pound would give her $2 a week for 25 weeks, or $50 in all. Eggs should yield also not less than $40 in the year. This all totals to $1,240, against an original outlay of $10 an acre, or $4,000 in all for the farm, and $1,500 for implements and stock. If the farmer is a sportsman, he may add a good many deer in the course of the year to the family larder, and also pheasants and partridges and quail, from August to November. I use the local names, the ruffed grouse and the common grouse being in question. CHAPTER IV. A spring ride in Oregon--The start--The equipment--Horses and saddlery--Packs--The roadside--Bird fellow-travelers--Snakes--The nearest farm--Bees--The great pasture--The poisonous larkspur-- Market-gardening--The Cardwell Hill--The hill-top--The water-shed--Mary River--Crain's--The Yaquina Valley--Brush, grass, and fern--The young Englishmen's new home--A rustic bridge--"Chuck-holes"--The road supervisor--Trapp's--The mill-dam--Salmon-pass law--Minnows and crawfish--The Pacific at rest--Yaquina--Newport. Some months ago I noticed an observation in the "Spectator," in a critique of a book of the Duke of Argyll's on Canadian homes, to the effect that what was wanted was such a description of roadside, farm, and woodland as should cause far-away readers to see them in their ordinary, every-day guise. I have often felt the same need in books of travels, when I little thought it would ever fall to my lot to try to bring a land thousands of miles away before untraveled eyes. So, take a ride with me, in May, from our town to Yaquina Bay, just sixty-six miles off. I have already said enough of the valley lying here, in the early morning, calm and quiet, with the light mist tracing out the course of the great river for miles into the soft distance, and the Cascade Range standing out clear above. But we turn our backs on the town and face toward the west. [Sidenote: _HORSES AND SADDLERY._]