Wild North America 1846

Chapter 272 Wheat Harvest Season
1857 year 8 early month
It's the season of wheat harvest, and the endless fields of Wuxing Town on Paradise Island are rolling in waves of wheat, ushering in a gratifying harvest scene.

on the train platform

Wu Erbao and a group of partners drove a large flock of sheep out of the carriage. He was busy working with joy on his face. These are ewes and lambs imported from Australia, and a few breeding rams are used to breed high-quality sheep. group.

Darwin, the northernmost city in Australia, is only a one-day flight from Donggang, so it is very convenient to travel.But it is a bit far away from Xin'an, and it takes a week for a cargo ship to sail.

Horses, mules, cattle and sheep, which are abundant in Australia, are the most popular bulk products exported to Paradise Island. Canned tropical fruits, beans, meat and aquatic products in Paradise Island are also popular in Australia and are widely popular. Welcomed by gold diggers in northern Australia, the value is equivalent to hard currency. Another bulk export material is oats. The annual demand in Australia reaches 10,000+ tons.

"Er Bao, have you harvested your wheat?"

"Not yet, Sixth Brother, I'm busy buying cattle and sheep. The next step is to breed them. I haven't missed it yet!"

"Then you have to hurry up, if it rains and the wheat falls down, it will be ruined."

"Got it, I'll take it when I get back."

He enthusiastically answered the greetings from his neighbors. This time Wu Erbao went to Xin’an City and not only bought 235 sheep and 2 calves, but also bought a harvester that can be hung on a walking tractor. Only this harvester It's worth 132 yuan.

But with this harvester, Wu Erbao can harvest 40 mu of land from dawn to dusk in a day, and the 90 mu of land at home can be harvested in two or three days, and he can also help other people's homes to rush to harvest.

It should be said that this walking tractor is really versatile in the farmland. It is good at cutting wheat, plowing the ground, pulling wheat oranges, and raking the ground. As long as it is hung with different agricultural machinery, it can support more than 10 strong laborers.

Now Wu Erbao is full of energy. With the help of his neighbors, he drives all the sheep and cattle he bought to his own pen, and uses crushed wheat oranges mixed with wheat husks, wheat bran and vegetable leaves as feed. After feeding the cows and sheep, he stopped sweating profusely.

on his farm
There are already 4 large barns standing tall. Under the barn is a 50 cm high circular foundation built with solid rocks, covered with cement, and erected a total of 6 log pillars with a height of 4.5 meters. The logs are connected to form a frame, and then enclosed with planks bought in the town.

These 4.5-meter-high log pillars are all shaped products. The seams on both sides of the pillars are just enough to fit the planks, just like building blocks, and they can be installed piece by piece.

The upright wooden pillars and the horizontally reinforced wooden pillars leave gaps that fit together. As long as they are tightened with a hammer and then reinforced with a few iron nails, the overall structure is extremely strong, and the effect of rain and moisture resistance is very good.

over the past two years

The barns on Paradise Island are all made in this way, but the barns on the Royal Farm are larger in size, generally divided into three types: 4.5 meters, 6 meters and 8 meters. Most of the barns on the Royal Farm are 8 meters large. warehouse, but the basic structure is the same.

After the foundation of the barn was laid, four or five carpenters were invited to work together, and the four barns were completed in 4 days.

The top of the barn is also a wooden structure, covered with wooden boards, covered with a layer of linoleum, and finally added with tiles.

Brothers from all the farms in the town help each other, as long as they have a little time, they will help each other. My house is built, and I will help your house. When your house is built, I will help his house. The relationship is good. Five or six families or seven or eight families spontaneously formed a mutual aid group.

Having said that, his own labor is free, but Wu Erbao drives a walk-behind tractor to help cut wheat and transport wheat straw, but he has to charge money, which is also an unwritten rule.

on the farm

4 large barns, a large barn and a row of chicken coops are all ready to look like.

Wu Erbao even built a small shed for his beloved walking tractor to keep out the wind and rain. After working, he wiped the walking tractor spotlessly clean and added lubricating oil to maintain it carefully.

But the small shack he lived in was very shabby. Inside he built a plank bed with a few stones. A quilt and a pillow were lost on the bed, and the quilt was black and had not been washed.

There are some bottles and jars and tableware for eating in the shack, as well as two iron pots, one large and one small. It is just a simple stove cut out of stone mixed with mud. Because of frequent cooking, the surrounding area is blackened.

As for men, there is no woman in the house to take care of them, so their own life is rough.

After feeding the cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks, Wu Erbao picked up half a basket of eggs from the chicken coop with a basket and came back, mixed the noodles with water, cracked two eggs in, woke up the noodles and cut them into noodles.

Boil water on the stove on the other side, put in noodles, then cut a few slices of bacon and throw it in, and put a washed green vegetable.

There were half-cut noodles on the chopping board, and Wu Erbao covered them with a towel, which was reserved for dinner.

not for a while
Hot egg noodles are ready. There are green vegetables and crystal clear bacon. Pick a chopstick of fatty oil into it, and then pour some soy sauce, and the little fragrance will come out with a "squeak".

With just this bowl of egg noodles, Wu Erbao couldn't even imagine that he would not be able to eat such good food during Chinese New Year in his 19 years of life experience in mainland China.

Now, it is not unusual to be able to eat it every day.

What is happiness, this is it!

A large bowl of noodles with bacon, after Wu Erbao finished eating deliciously, he burped in satisfaction, rubbed his belly and showed a happy smile.

He is much stronger now, and he lay down on the bed after eating, planning to go to the town tomorrow to find a few mikes, to help him work for seven or eight days, and harvest all the wheat in the field.

He drove the walking tractor to cut the wheat very quickly, and he could finish the work in about two and a half days. However, wheat threshing, drying, and returning to the warehouse are all heavy manual labor, and one person cannot finish the 90 mu of land.

Now in Paradise Island, the wheat is returned to the warehouse by belt cart.

This thing is a steel frame welded to grow a long conveyor belt, about 7.2 meters long, with rubber wheels in the middle, which can be pushed by several people or pulled by a walking tractor.

when using

Fix one end of it with the tractor with a belt, and use the power of the walking tractor to drive the conveyor belt to rotate. Put the low end on the ground, and put the high end on the entrance above the barn. .

To fill a barn, three strong laborers will work almost a day.

The price of such a belt car is very expensive, mainly because of the natural rubber. A set of belts made of natural rubber costs more than 300 yuan, and a belt car with a welded steel frame costs 76 yuan. The whole set of belt cars is close to 400 yuan. .

Someone in the town bought several belt carts for rent. The rent is 4 yuan a day. The rent is quite high. I have to rent it for almost 2 days, which is 5 yuan.

In the long run, no farm can do without a belt cart.

After one wheat season, the rent alone is enough to pay back the cost, and it will be a pure profit in the future, which is a very cost-effective business.

It's a pity that Wu Erbao can't afford it now. He estimates that the more than 90 mu of wheat in his home can be sold for about 320-330 yuan. If it is threshed and ground into wheat flour, the value is as high as 1500 yuan.

Of course, he can only think about that kind of good thing for himself.

A set of equipment for a flour mill is not for fun. Only those wealthy and powerful farmers with tens of thousands of acres of land in their homes can afford it, and of course they can make more money.

Small farmers like Wu Erbao can only sell their wheat honestly and earn a hard-earned money.

count down;
The 90 mu of wheat can be sold for 320 yuan. The annual gross income is about 880-900 yuan.

Excluding the cost of hiring labor and the cost of wheat seeding, the net profit is about half. This does not include Wu Erbao's hard work, nor the cost of the walking tractor for his own work.

If you count them all, it will be less than 300 yuan.

But the account can't be calculated like this, because wheat skin and rape leaves are the favorite feed for cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks.The chickens and ducks raised a few months ago are now grown enough to lay eggs.

Even if an egg or a duck egg costs 1 cent, it can’t hold up to the large quantity. Picking up casually every day is also a two-three triangle income, and you can earn 70 yuan a year.

Sell ​​some more chickens and ducks, and earn an extra 30 yuan.

In addition to these, there are so many sheep!

So with a farm in operation, and Wu Erbao helping with the work with a walk-behind tractor when farming is busy, it is not a problem to make a net profit of more than [-] yuan a year.

It won't take more than two years to build a house and marry a daughter-in-law, and they will be able to live a happy life.

"Is Erbao at home?"

"Yes, ouch, what kind of wind is it today that brought Aunt Tang's family here?" Wu Erbao got out of the shed upon hearing the sound, and saw a 27-year-old woman with her belly up for five months. She was pregnant, and she and another woman stood outside and looked over with a smile.

Tang's aunt is a businessman who runs a grain and oil shop in the town. The man is a Fujianese who immigrated to North America in the early years. In the past two years, he has smelled a chance to make a fortune. He brought his savings and followed many North American businessmen to Paradise Island. Grain and oil business.

The industrious nature of Chinese businessmen, no matter how remote or remote the town is, as long as there is money to be made, there are people who are willing to go.

"I see that all the wheat in your house has been harvested, so I came here to ask, the farming season does not wait for anyone!"

"Thank you, sister-in-law of the Tang family, I'm going to harvest tomorrow, and I'm going to the town to find a few Mikes to help. It only takes a few days to put it away, so it's very fast."

"Isn't it easy to find a helper for Mai Ke? Auntie and I are on it. The dozen or so Mai Ke who went to Houzhen to help work should have finished their work in the past two days. I will save a few for you."

"That's a good relationship, and it saves me running errands. I have to work here tomorrow morning. At least four or five people are needed."

"No problem, just a word."

"Then thank you, Aunt Tang. My place is cramped, so it's not easy to invite you to sit in the shack. How about I pour you two bowls of water?"

"Don't be so busy, which one is not like this now? The farm is all ready, and the house will look good when it is built." Aunt Tang's family looked up and down Wu Erbao nodded in satisfaction, and changed the topic of conversation. Said; "People say that only when you have a family and start a business can you be considered stable. Brother Erbao, your farm is almost the same. Even if there is no caring person in the house to ask about the health and well-being, it will not be a problem, and life will be stuttering. There is no one to mend the quilt, and no one to cook, how about my aunt introduce you a daughter-in-law?"

Wu Erbao is considered outstanding among the new immigrants. Others only have 60 acres of land, while his family has 90 acres. In addition, he bought a walking tractor with a quick mind and is catching up with the upsurge of land reclamation. Can't stop.

If you do the math, you can earn a lot more than others.

No, some people fell in love with Wu Erbao, and asked someone to say that the matchmaker came.

There are not a few people who immigrate to Paradise Island with their families. Generally speaking, as long as they have worked as a private laborer for two years, as long as they are adult men and women, they will have a 60-acre land.

If it is a family of 6, then it is 360 mu of land, a proper small farm.

The problem is that women always have to marry someone, and the person can leave, but the field cannot, and it still stays in the family account.

Moreover, the situation of more men than women in Paradise Island is quite serious. Marrying a daughter-in-law requires a large amount of dowry, basically between 300 and 400 yuan, and it is even higher for beautiful girls.

This gift money is enough for the family to take care of the farm better.

At the beginning of running a farm, a lot of money needs to be subsidized. Even with preferential loans, money is still very tight. You have to build a house, build a barn, build a corral, build a chicken and duck shed, buy agricultural machinery, buy fruit seedlings, and buy cattle. Lambs cost money for everything.

Therefore, as long as a family with a girl settles down, they will think of marrying the girl in exchange for a generous dowry to build a farm. The sooner it is built, the better it will be.

Among other things, if you use this dowry to buy a belt cart, the monthly rent will be more than 100 yuan. After a busy farming season, you can earn at least 200 yuan, and you will turn back in one year, and you will make a net profit in two years.

After the household is settled, the girl will lose money if she stays at home, so it is better to get married as soon as possible in exchange for a generous dowry, and the son-in-law can help with the work when the farming season is busy.

Just like Wu Erbao, a young man with a walking tractor at home, went to his father-in-law’s house to help cut wheat and pull wheat straws during the busy farming season. Can he still collect money?

Shout out while building the barn, won't you come and help?
When there is a shortage of money in the family, it is a lot of benefits to be able to help one or two no matter what.

The shortage of money mentioned here does not mean that the family can't get rid of the pot, but that when buying agricultural machinery or cattle, there is not enough money. If you ask your son-in-law to get some, the father-in-law will not have the slightest psychological burden.

Hearing this, Wu Erbao's heart moved. They are all young and vigorous young men. It is not shameful to want to marry a wife, but he managed to hold his nerve and asked carefully; "Auntie Tang, which girl are you talking about?" ?”

"Auntie told you that there is still a difference. The eldest daughter of Zheng Youcai's family in Zhengjiabao Village is 15 this year. She is also a quick-working girl, but she is a little thinner. Just marry and raise her." gone."

"The eldest girl of Zheng Youcai's family...is she a little lame?" Wu Erbao said in displeasure as he recalled the people he knew carefully, his face darkened suddenly.

Aunt Tang's family didn't expect Wu Erbao to really know each other, so she seemed a little embarrassed at once, Qi Qi Ai Ai replied; "It's not lame, it's just that I broke my foot on the immigration boat. They said there, the bride price is only 288 yuan, 4 A quilt, a bullock cart is enough..."

"That's enough, that's enough, don't give up money, I don't even want to post it to me." Wu Erbao suddenly burst into flames, interrupted Aunt Tang's words, and retorted in a dark face; "Are you treating me like a fool? It’s not a serious and good girl’s house, and there is an ox cart...Why don’t you want a cavalry regiment? If you have nothing to do, hurry up, I still have a lot of things to do, and I don’t have time to greet you.”

This is obviously throwing people out, and if I continue to talk about it, I will really start scolding. The Tang family's aunt blushed immediately, dragged the woman beside her, and left in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)