History of farming in Ontario

HISTORY OF

FARMING IN

ONTARIO

BY

C. C. JAMES

RE> .1NTED FROM

CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES

A HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN PEOPLE

AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS

BY ONE HUNDRFD ASSOCIATES

EDITED BY

ADAM SHORTT AND \. G. DOUGHTY

HISTORY OF FARMING
IN ONTARIO

BY

C. C. JAMES

C.M.G.

TORONTO

GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
1914

This Volume consists of a Reprint, for
private circulation only, of the One Hun
dred and Sixteenth Signed Contribution
contained in CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES,
a History of the Canadian People and their
Institutions by One Hundred Associates.
Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty,
General Editors

HISTORY OF FARMING

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

FROM the most southern point of Ontario on Lake Erie,
near the 42nd parallel of latitude, to Moose Factory
on James Bay, the distance is about 750 miles.
From the eastern boundary on the Ottawa and St Lawrence
Rivers to Kenora at the Manitoba boundary, the distance is
about 1000 miles. The area lying within these extremes
is about 220,000 square miles. In 1912 a northern addition
of over 100,000 square miles was made to the surface area of
the province, but it is doubtful whether the agricultural lands
will thereby be increased. Of this large area about 25,000,000
acres are occupied and assessed, including farm lands and
town and city sites. It will be seen, therefore, that only a
small fraction of the province has, as yet, been occupied.
Practically all the occupied area lies south of a line drawn
through Montreal, Ottawa, and Sault Ste Marie, and it forms
part of the great productive zone of the continent.

The next point to be noted is the irregularity of the
boundary-line, the greater portion of which is water Lakes
Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario, the St Lawrence River, the
Ottawa River, James Bay, and Hudson Bay. The modifying
effect of great bodies of water must be considered in studying
the agricultural possibilities of Ontario.

Across this great area of irregular outline there passes a
branch of the Archaean rocks running in a north-western
direction and forming a watershed, which turns some of the
streams to Hudson Bay and the others to the St Lawrence
system. An undulating surface has resulted, more or less
filled with lakes, and almost lavishly supplied with streams,
which are of prime importance for agricultural life and of

651

552 HISTORY OF FARMING

incalculable value for commercial purposes. To these old
rocks which form the backbone of the province may be traced
the origin of the large stretches of rich soil with which the
province abounds.

An examination of the map, and even a limited knowledge
of the geological history of the province, will lead to the con
clusion that in Ontario there must be a wide range in the
nature and composition of the soils and a great variety in the
climatic conditions. These conditions exist, and they result
in a varied natural production. In the extreme south
western section plants of a semi-tropical nature were to
be found in the early days in luxurious growth ; while in
the extreme north, spruce, somewhat stunted in size and
toughened in fibre, are still to be found in vast forests.

It is with the southern section, that lying south of the
Laurentian rocks, that our story is mainly concerned, for the
occupation and exploitation of the northland is a matter only
of recent date. Nature provided conditions for a diversified
agriculture. It is to such a land that for over a hundred
years people of different nationalities, with their varied train
ings and inclinations, have been coming to make their homes.
We may expect, therefore, to find a great diversity in the
agricultural growth of various sections, due partly to the
variety of natural conditions and partly to the varied agri
cultural training of the settlers in their homelands.

EARLY SETTLEMENT, 1783-1816

Originally this province was covered with forest, varied
and extensive, and was valued only for its game. The hunter
and trapper was the pioneer. To protect and assist him,
fortified posts were constructed at commanding points along
the great waterways. In the immediate vicinity of these
posts agriculture, crude in its nature and restricted in its area,
had its beginning.

It was into this wooded wilderness that the United Empire
Loyalists, numbering in all approximately ten thousand
people, came in the latter part of the eighteenth century. 1

1 See Pioneer Settlements in this section.

EARLY SETTLEMENT 553

They were a people of varied origins Highland Scottish,
German, Dutch, Irish Palatine, French Huguenot, English.
Most of them had lived on farms in New York State, and
therefore brought with them some knowledge and experience
that stood them in good stead in their arduous work of making
new homes in a land that was heavily wooded. In the year
1783 prospectors were sent into Western Quebec, the region
lying west of the Ottawa River, and selections were made for
them in four districts along the St Lawrence, opposite Fort
Oswegatchie ; around the Bay of Quinte, above Fort
Cataraqui ; in the Niagara peninsula, opposite Fort Niagara ;
and in the south-western section, within reach of Fort Detroit.
Two reasons determined these locations ; first, the necessity
of being located on the water-front, as lake and river were the
only highways available ; and, secondly, the advisability of
being within the protection of a fortified post. The depend
ence of the settlers upon the military will be realized when we
remember that they had neither implements nor seed grain.
In fact, they were dependent at first upon the government
stores for their food. It is difficult at the present time to
realize the hardships and appreciate the conditions under
which these United Empire Loyalist settlers began life in
the forest of 1784.

Having been assigned their lots and supplied with a few
implements, they began their work of making small clearings
and the erection of rude log-houses and barns. Among the
stumps they sowed the small quantities of wheat, oats, and
potatoes that were furnished from the government stores.
Cattle were for many years few in number, and the settler,
to supply his family with food and clothing, was compelled
to add hunting and trapping to his occupation of felling the
trees.

Gradually the clearings became larger and the area sown
increased in size. The trails were improved and took on the
semblance of roads, but the waterways continued to be the
principal avenues of communication. In each of the four
districts the government erected mills to grind the grain for
the settlers. These were known as the King s Mills. Water-
power mills were located near Kingston, at Gananoque, at

554 HISTORY OF FARMING

Napanee, and on the Niagara River. The mill on the Detroit
was run by wind power. An important event in the early
years was when the head of the family set out for the mill with
his bag of wheat on his back or in his canoe, and returned in
two or three days, perhaps in a week, with a small supply of
flour. In the early days there was no wheat for export. The
question then may be asked, was there anything to market ?
Yes ; as the development went on, the settlers found a market
for two surplus products, timber and potash. The larger
pine trees were hewn into timber and floated down the streams
to some convenient point where they were collected into
rafts, which were taken down the St Lawrence to Montreal
and Quebec. Black salt or crude potash was obtained by
concentrating the ashes that resulted from burning the brush
and trees that were not suitable for timber.

For the first thirty years of the new settlements the chief
concern of the people was the clearing of their land, the in
creasing of their field crops, and the improving of their homes
and furnishings. It was slow going, and had it not been for
government assistance, progress, and even maintenance of
life, would have been impossible. That was the heroic age of
Upper Canada, the period of foundation-laying in the province.
Farming was the main occupation, and men, women, and
children shared the burdens in the forest, in the field, and in
the home. Roads were few and poorly built, except the three
great military roads planned by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe
running east, west, and north from the town of York. Social
intercourse was of a limited nature. Here and there a school
was formed when a competent teacher could be secured.
Church services were held once a month, on which occasions
the missionary preacher rode into the district on horseback.
Perhaps once or twice in the summer the weary postman, with
his pack on his back, arrived at the isolated farmhouse to
leave a letter, on which heavy toll had to be collected.

Progress was slow in those days, but after thirty years
fair hope of an agricultural country was beginning to dawn
upon the people when the War of 1812 broke out. By this
time the population of the province had increased to about
eighty thousand. During this first thirty years very little

EARLY SETTLEMENT 555

had been done in the way of stimulating public interest
in agricultural work. Conditions were not favourable to
organization. The town meeting was concerned mainly
with the question of the height of fences and regulations as
to stock running at large. One attempt, however, was made
which should be noted. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe took
charge of affairs early in 1792, and, immediately after the close
of the first session of the legislature at Newark (Niagara) in
the autumn of that year, organized an agricultural society
at the headquarters which met occasionally to discuss agri
cultural questions. There are no records to show whether
social intercourse or practical agricultural matters formed the
main business. The struggle for existence was too exacting
and the conditions were not yet favourable for organization to
advance general agricultural matters.

When the War of 1812 broke out the clearings of the
original settlers had been extended, and some of the loyalists
still lived, grown grey with time and hardened by the rough
life of the backwoods. Their sons, many of whom had faint
recollection of their early homes across the line, had grown
up in an atmosphere of strictest loyalty to the British crown,
and had put in long years in clearing the farms on which they
lived and adding such comforts to their houses, that to them,
perhaps as to no other generation, their homes meant every
thing in life. The summons came to help to defend those
homes and their province. For three years the agricultural
growth received a severe check. Fathers and sons took their
turn in going to the front. The cultivation of the fields, the
sowing and the harvesting of the crops, fell largely to the lot
of the mothers and the daughters left at home. But they
were equal to it. In those days the women were trained to
help in the work of the fields. They did men s work willingly
and well. In many cases they had to continue their heroic
work after the close of the war, until their surviving boys were
grown to years of manhood, for many husbands and sons went
to the front never to return.

VOL. XVIII 3 N

556 HISTORY OF FARMING

A PERIOD OF EXPANSION, 1816-46

The close of the war saw a province that had been checked
at a time of vigorous growth now more or less impoverished,
and, in some sections, devastated. This was, however, but
the gloomy outlook before a period of rapid expansion. In
1816, on the close of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, large
numbers of troops were disbanded, and for these new homes
and new occupations had to be found. Then began the first
emigration from Britain overseas to Upper Canada. All
over the British Isles little groups were forming of old soldiers
reunited to their families. A few household furnishings were
packed,a supplyof provisions laid in,a sailing vessel chartered,
and the trek began across the Atlantic. The emigrants sailed
from many ports of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Some
times the trip was made in three or four weeks ; but often,
through contrary winds or rough weather, three or four
months passed before the vessel sailed up the St Lawrence and
landed the newcomers at Montreal. Hardly half of their
difficulties were then overcome or half of their dangers passed.
If they were to find their new locations by land, they must
walk or travel by slow ox-cart ; if they journeyed by water,
they must make their way up the St Lawrence by open boat,
surmounting the many rapids in succession, poling the boats,
pulling against the stream, at times helping to carry heavy
loads over the portages. Their new homes in the backwoods
were in townships in the rear of those settled by the loyalists,
or in unoccupied areas lying on the lake-fronts between the
four districts referred to as having been taken up by the
loyalists. Then began the settlements along the north shore
of Lake Ontario and of Lake Erie, and the population moved
forward steadily. In 1816 the total population of the province
was approximately 100,000 ; by 1826, according to returns
made to the government, it had increased to 166,000 ; in
1836 it was 374,000, and in 1841 it was 456,000. The great
majority of these people, of course, lived upon the land, the
towns being comparatively small, and the villages were com
posed largely of people engaged in agricultural work.

A PERIOD OF EXPANSION 557

This peaceful British invasion contributed a new element
to the province and added still further to the variety of the
people. In one township could be found a group of English
settlers, most of whom came from a southern county of
England, near by a township peopled by Scottish Low-
landers, and not far away a colony of north of Ireland
farmers, or perhaps a settlement composed entirely of people
from the vicinity of Cork or Limerick.

These British settlers brought new lines of life, new plans
for houses and barns, new methods of cultivation, new
varieties of seed, and, what was perhaps of most influence
upon the agricultural life of the province, new kinds of live
stock. Even to this day can be seen traces of the differences
in construction of buildings introduced by the different
nationalities that came as pioneers into the various sections
of the province the French Canadian constructed his build
ings with long, steep roofs ; the Englishman followed his
home plan of many small, low outbuildings with doors some
what rounded at the top ; the German and Dutch settler
built big barns with their capacious mows. These latter
have become the type now generally followed, the main
improvement in later years being the raising of the frames
upon stone foundations so as to provide accommodation
for live stock in the basement. It would be interesting and
profitable to study carefully the different localities to deter
mine what elements have contributed to the peculiar agricul
tural characteristics of the present day. In this connection
the language also might be investigated. For instance, to
the early Dutch farmers of Upper Canada we owe such
common words as stoop, bush, boss, span. To the
early British settler these were foreign words. When the
oversea settlers came up the St Lawrence they were trans
ported from Montreal either by bateau or by Durham
boat.

Special reference must be made to the live stock intro
duced by the British settlers. This was one of the most
important elements in the expansion and permanent develop
ment of the agriculture of the province. The British Isles

1 See Shipping and Canals in section v. pp. 489-90.

558 HISTORY OF FARMING

have long been noted for their pure-bred stock. In no other
part of the world have so many varieties been originated and
improved. In horses, there are the Clydesdale, the Shire,
the Thoroughbred, and the Hackney ; in cattle, Shorthorns,
Herefords, Ayrshires, Devon, and the dairy breeds of Jersey
and Guernsey ; in sheep, Southdowns, Shropshires, Leicesters ;
in swine, Berkshires and Yorkshires. Many other breeds
might be added to these. Poultry and dogs also might be
referred to. The Britisher has been noted for his love of
live stock. He has been trained to their care, his agricul
tural methods have been ordered to provide food suitable
for their wants, and he has been careful to observe the lines
of breeding so as to improve their quality. In the earliest
period of the settlement of the province live stock was not
numerous and the quality was not of the best. Whatever
was to be found on the farms came mainly from the United
States and was of inferior type. The means of bringing in
horses, cattle, and sheep were limited. The result was that
field work at that time was largely done by hand labour.
Hunting and fishing helped to supply the table with the food
that to-day we obtain from the butcher. When the Britisher
came across the Atlantic he brought to Upper Canada his
love for live stock and his knowledge how to breed and care
for the same. The result was seen in the rapid increase in
the number of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, and the placing
of the agriculture of the province on a firm basis for future
growth.

By 1830 the population had grown to about 213,000,
practically all located on the land. In that year there were
only five towns of 1000 or over : namely, Kingston, 3587 ;
York (Toronto), 2860 ; London, (including the township),
2415 ; Hamilton (including the township), 2013 ; and Brock-
ville, 1130. The returns to the government show that of
the 4,018,385 acres occupied 773,727 were under cultiva
tion. On the farms were to be found 30,776 horses, 33,517
oxen, 80,892 milch cows, and 32,537 young cattle. It is
interesting to note that oxen, so useful in clearing land and
in doing heavy work, were more numerous than horses.
Oxen were hardier than horses ; they could forage for them-

A PERIOD OF EXPANSION 559

selves and live on rough food, and when disabled could be
converted into food. They thus played a very important
part in the pioneer life. There were no improved farm
implements in those days : the plough, the spade, the hoe,
the fork, the sickle, the hook, the cradle, and the rake
implements that had been the husbandman s equipment for
centuries completed the list. With these the farmer culti
vated his lands and gathered his crops. With two stout
hickory poles, joined together at the end with tough leather
thongs, a flail was made with which he threshed out his grain
on the floor of his barn.

The earliest pioneers raised some flax, and from the fibre
made coarse linen fabrics, supplementing these by skins of
wild animals and the hides of cattle. With the introduc
tion of sheep by the British settlers wool became an important
product, and homespun garments provided additional cloth
ing for all the members of the family. Seeds of various fruit
trees were planted, and by 1830 the products of these seed
lings supplemented the wild plums and cherries of the woods
and the wild raspberries that sprang up in abundance in the
clearings and slashes. By this time every farm had one or
more milch cows and the farmer s table was supplied with
fresh milk, butter, and home-made cheese. As the first half-
century of the province was drawing to its close, some of the
comforts of home life began to be realized by the farming
community. The isolation of the former period disappeared
as roads of communication were opened up and extended.

Here and there societies were formed for the exhibition
of the products of the farm and for friendly competitions.
So important were these societies becoming in the life of the
whole community that in 1830 the government gave them
recognition and provided an annual grant to assist them in
their work. This is an important event in agricultural
history, for it marks the beginning of government assistance
to the agricultural industry. Between 1820 and 1830 pro
bably not more than half a dozen agricultural societies were
organized. Some records of such were preserved at York,
Kingston, and in the Newcastle district. From the record
of the County of Northumberland Agricultural Society it is

560 HISTORY OF FARMING

learned that its first show was held in the public square of
the village of Colborne on October 19, 1828, when premiums
were awarded amounting in all to seventy-seven dollars.
There were fourteen prizes for live stock, two prizes for cheese,
two for field rollers, and two for essays on the culture of
wheat. The first prize essay, for which the winner received
five dollars, was printed for distribution. The prize list was
limited in range, but it shows how this new settlement,
formed largely by British settlers since 1816, was giving par
ticular attention to the encouragement of live stock. A
short quotation from the prize essay as to the best method
of clearing the land for wheat should be found of interest.

As a great part of our County is yet in a wilderness
state and quite a share of the wheat brought to our
markets is reared on new land, I deem it important that
our enterprising young men who are clearing away the
forest should know how to profit by their hard labor.
Let the underwood be cut in the autumn before the
leaves fall, and the large timber in the winter or early in
the spring. This will insure a good burn, which is the
first thing requisite for a good crop. Do your logging
in the month of June, and if you wish to make money,
do it before you burn your brush and save the ashes ;
these will more than half pay you for clearing the land :
and by burning at this season you will attract a drove
of cattle about you that will destroy all sprouts which
may be growing ; do not leave more than four trees on
an acre and girdle these in the full moon of March and
they will never leaf again ; thus you may have your
land prepared for the seed before harvest.

The act of 1830 provided a grant of 100 for a society in
each district, upon condition that the members subscribed
and paid in at least 50, and in the case of a society being
organized in each county the amount was to be equally
divided among the societies. The condition of making the
grant was set forth in the act as follows : When any Agri
cultural Society, for the purpose of importing valuable live
stock, grain, grass seeds, useful implements or whatever else
might conduce to the improvement of agriculture in this
Province, etc.

A PERIOD OF EXPANSION 561

As a result of this substantial assistance by the govern
ment, agricultural societies increased in number, and their
influence, in assisting in the improvement of the live stock
and the bringing of new implements to the attention of
farmers, was most marked.

Horses, sheep, and milch cows increased rapidly. Pure
bred cattle now began to receive some attention. The first
record of importation is the bringing of a Shorthorn bull and
a cow from New York State in 1831 by Robert Arnold of
St Catharines. In 1833 Rowland Wingfield, an Englishman
farming near Guelph, brought a small herd of choice animals
across the ocean, landed them at Montreal, took them to
Hamilton by way of the Ottawa River, the Rideau Canal,
and Lake Ontario, and then drove them on foot to Wellington
County. The Hon. Adam Fergusson of Woodhill followed
two or three years later with a similar importation.

The first Ayrshire cattle can be traced back to the Scottish
settlers who arrived during this period. These emigrants had
provided their own food for the voyage to Canada, and in
some cases brought a good milch cow to provide fresh milk
on the voyage. She would be disposed of on landing, at
Montreal or in the eastern part of Upper Canada. This
accounts for the early predominance of Ayrshires in Eastern
Ontario. Thus to the period 1830-45 belongs the first founda
tion of the pure-bred stock industry.

It was in this period also that the first signs appear of
improved farm implements and labour-saving machinery.
Ploughs of improved pattern, lighter and more effective,
were being made. Land rollers and harrows made in the
factory began to take the place of the home-made articles.
Crude threshing machines, clover-seed cleaners, root-cutters,
and a simple but heavy form of hay-rake came into use. The
mowing machine and the reaper were making their appear
ance in Great Britain and the United States, but they had
not yet reached Upper Canada.

The organization of agricultural societies in the various
districts, and the great impetus given to the keeping of good
stock, led in 1843 to the suggestion that a provincial organiza
tion would be of benefit to the farming industry. In the

562 HISTORY OF FARMING

neighbouring State of New York a similar organization had
been in existence since 1832 and successful State fairs had
been held, which some of the more prominent farmers of
Upper Canada had visited. An agricultural paper called
the British American Cultivator had been established in
York, and through this paper, in letters and editorials, the
idea of a provincial association was advocated. For three
years the discussion proceeded, until finally, in 1846, there
was organized the Provincial Agricultural Association and
Board of Agriculture for Canada West, composed of dele
gates from the various district societies. The result was
that the first provincial exhibition was held in Toronto on
October 21 and 22 of that year. The old Government House
at the south-western corner of King Street and Simcoe
Street, then empty, was used for the exhibits, and the stock
and implements were displayed in the adjoining grounds.
The Canada Company gave a contribution of $200, eight
local societies made donations, about $280 was secured as
gate money, and 297 members paid subscriptions. Premiums
were paid to the amount of $880, the bulk of which went to
live stock; books, which cost about $270, were given as
prizes ; and there was left a cash balance on hand of $400.
A ploughing match was held, and on the evening of the first
day a grand banquet was given, attended by the officers and
directors and by some of the leading citizens of Toronto.
Among the speakers at this banquet were Chief Justice
Robinson and Egerton Ryerson, superintendent of education.

ORGANIZED AGRICULTURE, 1846-67

The organization of this provincial association fittingly
introduces another era in agricultural growth. It is to be
noted that this provincial organization was a self-created
body ; it drew at first no government funds direct. It
commended itself to the people, for on July 28, 1847, the
provincial parliament in session at Montreal passed an act
incorporating it under the name of the Agricultural Asso
ciation of Upper Canada, and in the charter named as
members a number of the leading citizens of the province.

ORGANIZED AGRICULTURE 563

It was governed by a board of directors, two of whom were
chosen annually by each district agricultural society. The
objects set forth were the improvement of farm stock and
produce, the improvement of agricultural implements, and
the encouragement of domestic manufactures, of useful in
ventions applicable to agricultural or domestic purposes, and
of every branch of rural and domestic economy. Out of
this provincial association came all the further agricultural
organizations of a provincial nature, and ultimately, some
forty years later, the Ontario department of Agriculture.

The second provincial exhibition was held at Hamilton
in 1847, and Lord Elgin, the governor-general, was in attend
ance. He was also a generous patron, for his name appears
as a donor of $100. The address which he delivered at the
banquet has been preserved in the published records and is
copiously marked with cheers and loud applause.

The third exhibition was held at Cobourg in 1848. The
official report of the exhibits indicates that pure-bred stock
was rapidly increasing and improving in quality ; but the
most significant paragraph is that dealing with implements,
and this is well worth quoting in full.

Of implements of Canada make, the Show was deficient;
and we were much indebted to our American neighbours
for their valuable aid on this occasion. A large number
of ploughs, straw-cutters, drills, cornshellers, churns,
etc., etc., were brought over by Messrs Briggs & Co. of
Rochester, Mr Emery of Albany, and a large manufac
turing firm near Boston. Mr Bell of Toronto exhibited
his excellent plough, straw-cutter, and reaping machine.
The first prize for the latter article was awarded to
Mr Helm of Cobourg for the recent improvements
which he has effected. Mr Clark of Paris exhibited his
one-horse thrashing-mill, which attracted much atten
tion.

At the fourth exhibition, held at Kingston in 1849, the
show of implements was much more extensive, and comment
was made on the improvement of articles of home manufac
ture. At this meeting Professor J. F. VV. Johnson, of Edin
burgh, who was making a tour of North America, was present.

VOL. XVIII 2 O

564 HISTORY OF FARMING

The address of the president, Henry Ruttan of Cobourg, is
a most valuable reference article descriptive of the agricul
tural progress of the province from the first settlements in
1783 to the time of the exhibition. Ruttan was a loyalist s
son, and, from his own personal knowledge, he described the
old plough that was given by the government to each of the
first settlers.

It consisted of a small iron socket, whose point entered
by means of a dove-tailed aperture into the heel of the
coulter, which formed the principal part of the plough,
and was in shape similar to the letter L, the shank of
which went through the wooden beam, and the foot
formed the point which was sharpened for operation.
One handle and a plank split from the side of a winding
block of timber, which did duty for the mould -board,
completed the implement. Besides provisions for a year,
I think each family had issued to them a plough-share
and coulter, a set of dragg-teeth, a log chain, an axe, a
saw, a hammer, a bill hook and a grubbing hoe, a pair of
hand-irons and a cross-cut saw amongst several families,
and a few other articles.

He then refers to the large number of implements then
being pressed upon the farmers, until they have almost
become a nuisance to the farmer who desires to purchase a
really useful article. All of which indicates that a distinc
tive feature of the period beginning with 1846 was the intro
duction and rapid extension of improved farm machinery.

A few words as to the reaping machine, which contributed
more than any other modern implement to the development
of agriculture in the past century, may not be out of place.
Various attempts had been made at producing a machine to
supersede the sickle, the scythe, and the cradle before the Rev.
Patrick Bell, in 1826, presented his machine to the Highland
Agricultural Society of Scotland for its examination. Bell s
machine was fairly successful, and one was then in operation
on the farm of his brother, Inch-Michael, in the Carse of
Gowrie. One set of knives was fixed, another set worked
above and across these like the blades of a pair of scissors.
The grain fell on an endless cloth which carried and deposited

ORGANIZED AGRICULTURE 565

the heads at the side of the machine. A horse pushed it
forward and kept all parts in motion. It was simple, and, we
are told, harvested twelve acres in a day. This was in 1826.
In the New York Farmer and American Gardener s Magazine
for 1834 ma Y be found the descriptions and illustrations of
Obed Hussey s grain-cutter and Cyrus H. M c Cormick s
improved reaping-machine. The question has been raised
as to whether either of these United States inventions owed
anything to the earlier production of Patrick Bell. It was,
of course, the improved United States reaping machines that
found their way into Upper Canada shortly after the organiza
tion of the Provincial Agricultural Association. Our interest
in this matter is quickened by the fact that the Rev. Patrick
Bell, when a young man, was for some time a tutor in the
family of a well-to-do farmer in the county of Wellington,
and there is a tradition that while there he carried on
some experiments in the origination of his machine. The
suggestion of a mysterious visitor from the United States
to the place where he was experimenting is probably mere
conjecture.

This period, 1846 to 1867, was one of rapid growth in
population. The free-grant land policy of the government
was a great attraction for tens of thousands of people in the
British Isles, who were impelled by social unrest, failure of
crops, and general stagnation in the manufacturing in
dustries to seek new homes across the sea. In the twenty
years referred to the population more than doubled, and the
improved lands of the province increased fourfold. The
numbers of cattle and sheep about doubled, and the wheat
production increased about threefold.

Towards the latter part of the period a new agricultural
industry came into existence the manufacture of cheese in
factories. It was in New York State that the idea of co
operation in the manufacture of cheese was first attempted.
There, as in Canada West, it had been the practice to make
at home from time to time a quantity of soft cheese, which,
of course, would be of variable quality. To save labour, a
proposition was made to collect the milk from several farms
and have the cheese made at one central farm. The success

566 HISTORY OF FARMING

of this method soon became known and small factories were
established. In 1863 Harvey Farrington came from New
York State to Canada West and established a factory in
the county of Oxford, about the same time that a similar
factory was established in the county of Missisquoi, Quebec.
Shortly afterwards factories were built in Hastings County,
and near Brockville, in Leeds County. Thus began an
industry that had a slow advance for some fifteen years, but
from 1880 spread rapidly, until the manufacture of cheese in
factories became one of the leading provincial industries.
The system followed is a slight modification of the Cheddar
system, which takes its name from one of the most beautiful
vales in the west of England. Its rapid progress has been
due to the following circumstances : Ontario, with her rich
grasses, clear skies, and clean springs and streams, is well
adapted to dairying ; large numbers of her farmers came from
dairy districts in the mother country ; the co-operative
method of manufacture tends to produce a marketable article
that can be shipped and that improves with proper storage ;
Great Britain has proved a fine market for such an article ;
and the industry has for over thirty years received the special
help and careful supervision and direction of the provincial
and Dominion governments.

During this period we note the voluntary organization of
the Ontario Fruit-Growers Association, a fact which alone
would suggest that the production of fruit must have been
making progress. The early French settlers along the Detroit
River had planted pear trees or grown them from seed, and a
few of these sturdy, stalwart trees, over a century old, still
stand and bear some fruit. Mrs Simcoe, in her Journal,
July 2, 1793, states : We have thirty large May Duke cherry
trees behind the house and three standard peach trees which
supplied us last Autumn for tarts and desserts during six
weeks, besides the numbers the young men eat. This was at
Niagara. The records of the agricultural exhibitions indicate
that there was a gradual extension of fruit-growing. Im
portations of new varieties were made, Rochester, in New
York State, apparently being the chief place from which
nursery stock was obtained. Here and there through the

ORGANIZED AGRICULTURE 567

province gentlemen having some leisure and the skill to
experiment were beginning to take an interest in their gardens
and to produce new varieties. On January 19, 1859, a few
persons met in the board-room of the Mechanics Hall at
Hamilton and organized a fruit-growers association for
Upper Canada. Judge Campbell was elected president ;
Dr Hurlbert, first vice-president ; George Leslie, second vice-
president ; Arthur Harvey, secretary. The members of this
association introduced new varieties and reported on their
success. They were particularly active in producing such
new varieties as were peculiarly suitable to the climate. For
nine years they maintained their organization and carried on
their work unaided and unrecognized officially.

To this period belongs also the first attempts at special
instruction in agriculture and the beginning of an agricultural
press. Both are intimately connected with the association,
already referred to, that had been organized in 1846 by some
of the most progressive citizens.

For four years the Provincial Association carried on its
work and established itself as a part of the agricultural life
of Canada West. In 1850 the government stepped in and
established a board of agriculture as the executive of the
association. Its objects were set out by statute and funds
were to be provided for its maintenance. The new lines of
work allotted to it were to collect agricultural statistics,
prepare crop reports, gather information of general value and
to present the same to the legislature for publication, and
to co-operate with the provincial university in the teaching
of agriculture and the carrying on of an experimental or
illustrative farm. Professor George Buckland was appointed
to the chair of agriculture in the university in January 1851
and an experimental farm on a small scale was laid out on
the university grounds. Professor Buckland acted also as
secretary to the board until 1858, when he resigned and was
succeeded by Hugh C. Thomson. He continued his work for
some years at the university, and was an active participant in
all agricultural matters up to the time of his death in 1885.

Provision having been made for agricultural instruction
at the university, the board in 1859 decided to establish a

568 HISTORY OF FARMING

course in veterinary science, and at once got into com
munication with Professor Dick of the Veterinary College
at Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1862 a school was opened in
Toronto under the direction of Professor Andrew Smith,
recently arrived from Edinburgh.

The British American Cultivator was established in 1841 by
Eastwood and Co. and W. G. Edmundson, with the latter as
editor. It gave place in 1849 to the Canadian Agriculturist, a
monthly journal edited and owned by George Buckland and
William MDougall. This was the official organ of the board
till the year 1864, when George Brown began the publication
of the Canada Farmer with the Rev. W. F. Clark as editor-
in-chief and D. W. Beadle as horticultural editor. The board
at once recognized it, accepted it as their representative, and
the Canadian Agriculturist ceased publication in December
1863.

The half-century of British immigration, 1816 to 1867, had
wrought a wonderful change. From a little over a hundred
thousand the population had grown to a million and a half ;
towns and cities had sprung into existence ; commercial
enterprises had taken shape ; the construction of railways
had been undertaken ; trade had developed along new lines ;
the standards of living had materially changed ; and great
questions, national and international, had stirred the people
and aroused at times the bitterest political strife. The
changed standards of living can best be illustrated by an
extract from an address delivered in 1849 by Sheriff Ruttan.
Referring to the earlier period, he said :

Our food was coarse but wholesome. With the excep
tion of three or four pounds of green tea a year for a
family, which cost us three bushels of wheat per pound,
we raised everything we ate. We manufactured our own
clothes and purchased nothing except now and then a
black silk handkerchief or some trifling article of foreign
manufacture of the kind. We lived simply, yet comfort
ably envied no one, for no one was better off than his
neighbour. Until within the last thirty years, one hun
dred bushels of wheat, at 2s. 6d. per bushel, was quite
sufficient to give in exchange for all the articles of for
eign manufacture consumed by a large family. . . . The

THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING 569

old-fashioned home-made cloth has given way to the
fine broadcloth coat ; the linsey-woolsey dresses of
females have disappeared and English and French silks
been substituted ; the nice clean-scoured floors of the
farmers houses have been covered by Brussels carpets ;
the spinning wheel and loom have been superseded by
the piano ; and in short, a complete revolution in all our
domestic habits and manners has taken place the con
sequences of which are the accumulation of an enormous
debt upon our shoulders and its natural concomitant,
political strife.

Students of Canadian history will at once recall the story
of the Rebellion of 1837, the struggle for constitutional govern
ment, the investigation by Lord Durham, the repeal of the
preferential wheat duties in England, the agitation for
Canadian independence, and other great questions that so
seriously disturbed the peace of the Canadian people. They
were the growing pains of a progressive people. The
Crimean War, in 1854-56, gave an important though
temporary boom to Canadian farm products. Reciprocity
with the United States from 1855 to 1866 offered a profitable
market that had been closed for many years. Then came the
close of the great civil war in the United States and the
opening up of the cheap, fertile prairie lands of the Middle
West to the hundreds of thousands of farmers set free from
military service. This westward movement was joined by
many farmers from Ontario ; there was a disastrous com
petition in products, and an era of agricultural depression
set in just before Confederation. It was because of these
difficulties that Confederation became a possibility and a
necessity. The new political era introduced a new agri
cultural period, which began under conditions that were
perhaps as unfavourable and as unpromising as had been
experienced for over half a century.

THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING, 1867-88

The period that we shall now deal with begins with Con
federation in 1867 and extends to 1888, when a provincial

570 HISTORY OF FARMING

minister of Agriculture was appointed for the first time and
an independent department organized.

From 1792 to 1841 what is now Ontario was known as
Upper Canada ; from 1841 to 1867 it was part of the United
Province of Canada, being known as Canada West to distin
guish it from Quebec or Canada East. In 1867, however, it
resumed its former status as a separate province, but with
the new name of Ontario. In the formation of the govern
ment of the province agriculture was placed under the care
of a commissioner, who, however, held another portfolio in
the cabinet. John Carling was appointed commissioner of
Public Works and also commissioner of Agriculture. On
taking office Carling found the following agricultural
organizations of the province ready to co-operate with the
government : sixty-three district agricultural societies, each
having one or more branch township societies under its care,
and all receiving annual government grants of slightly over
$50,000 ; a provincial board of agriculture, with its educa
tional and exhibition work ; and a fruit-growers association,
now for the first time taken under government direction and
given financial assistance.

One extract from the commissioner s first report will serve
to show the condition of agriculture in Ontario when the
Dominion was born. It is an encouraging fact that during
the last year in particular mowers and reapers and labour-
saving implements have not only increased in the older
districts, but have found their way into new ones, and into
places where they were before practically unknown. This
beneficial result has, no doubt, mainly arisen from the diffi
culty, or rather in some cases impossibility, of getting labour
at any price. It would appear, therefore, that the question
of shortage of farm labour, so much complained of in recent
years, has been a live one for forty years and more.

In the second report of the commissioner (1869) special
attention was directed to the question of agricultural educa
tion, and the suggestion was made that the agricultural de
partment of the university and the veterinary college might
give some instruction to the teachers at the normal school.
In the following year, however, an advanced step was taken.

THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING 571

It was noted that Dr Ryerson was in sympathy with special
agricultural teaching and had himself prepared and published
a text-book on agriculture. The suggestion was made that
the time had arrived for a school of practical science. At the
same time Ryerson had appointed the Rev. W. F. Clark, the
editor of the Canada Farmer, to visit the Agricultural depart
ment at Washington and a few of the agricultural colleges of
the United States, and to collect such practical information
as would aid in commencing something of an analogous
character in Ontario. It will thus be seen that the two
branches of technical training the School of Practical Science
and the Agricultural College were really twin institutions,
originating, in the year 1870, in the dual department of Public
Works and Agriculture. These institutions were the outcome
of the correlation of city and country industries, which were
under the fostering care of the Agriculture and Arts Associa
tion, as the old provincial organization was now known. The
School of Practical Science, it may be noted, is now incorpor
ated with the provincial university, and the Agricultural
College is affiliated with it.

There were at that time two outstanding agricultural
colleges in the United States, that of Massachusetts and that
of Michigan. These were visited, and, based upon the work
done at these institutions, a comprehensive and suggestive
report was compiled. Immediate action was taken upon the
recommendations of this report, and a tract of land, six
hundred acres in extent, was purchased at Mimico, seven miles
west of Toronto. Before work could be commenced, however,
the life of the legislature closed and a new government came
into office in 1871 with Archibald M c Kellar as commissioner
of Agriculture and Arts. New governments feel called upon
to promote new measures. There were rumours and sug
gestions that the soil of the Mimico farm was productive
of thistles and better adapted to brick-making than to the
raising of crops. Also the location was so close to Toronto
that it was feared that the attractions of the city would tend
to make the students discontented with country life. For
various reasons a change of location was deemed desirable,
and a committee of farmer members of the legislature was

VOL. xvin 2 P

572 HISTORY OF FARMING

appointed. Professor Miles, of the Michigan Agricultural
College, was engaged to give expert advice ; other locations
were examined, and finally More ton Lodge Farm, near
Guelph, was purchased. After some preliminary difficulties,
involving the assistance of a sheriff or bailiff, possession was
obtained, and the first class for instruction in agricultural
science and practice, consisting of thirty-one pupils in all, was
opened on June I, 1874, with William Johnston as rector
or principal. Thus was established the Ontario School of
Agriculture, now known as the Ontario Agricultural College.
Its annual enrolment has grown to over fifteen hundred, and
it is now recognized as the best-equipped and most successful
institution of its kind in the British Empire. Its development
along practical lines and its recognition as a potent factor in
provincial growth were largely due to Dr James Mills, who was
appointed president of the college in 1879, and filled that
position until January 1904, when he was appointed to the
Dominion Board of Railway Commissioners. Under his
direction farmers institutes were established in Ontario in
1884. Dr Mills was succeeded by Dr G. C. Creelman as
president.

The next important step in agricultural advancement was
the appointment in 1880 of the Ontario Agricultural Com
mission to inquire into the agricultural resources of the
Province of Ontario, the progress and condition of agriculture
therein and matters connected therewith. The commission
consisted of S. C. Wood, then commissioner of Agriculture
(chairman), Alfred H. Dymond (secretary), and sixteen
other persons representative of the various agricultural
interests, including the president and ex-president of the
Agricultural and Arts Association, Professor William Brown
of the Agricultural College, the master of the Dominion
Grange, the president of the Entomological Society, and two
members of the legislature, Thomas Ballantyne and John
Dryden. In 1913 there were but two survivors of this im
portant commission, J. B. Aylesworth of Newburg, Ont.,
and Dr William Saunders, who, after over twenty years
service as director of the Dominion Experimental Farms, had
resigned office in 1911.

THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING 573

All parts of the province were visited and information
was gathered from the leading farmers along the lines laid
down in the royal commission. In 1881 the report was issued
in five volumes. It was without doubt the most valuable
commission report ever issued in Ontario, if not in all Canada.
Part of it was reissued a second and a third time, and for
years it formed the Ontario farmer s library. Even to this
day it is a valuable work of reference, containing as it does
a vast amount of practical information and forming an in
valuable source of agricultural history.

The first outcome of this report was the establishment, in
1882, by the government of the Ontario bureau of Industries,
an organization for the collection and publication of statistics
in connection with agriculture and allied industries. Archibald
Blue, who now occupies the position of chief officer of the
census and statistics branch of the Dominion service, was
appointed the first secretary of the bureau.

Agriculture continued to expand, and associations for the
protection and encouragement of special lines increased in
number and in importance. Thus there were no fewer than
three vigorous associations interested in dairying : the Dairy
men s Association of Eastern Ontario, and the Dairymen s
Association of Western Ontario, which were particularly
interested in the cheese industry, and the Ontario Creameries
Association, which was interested in butter manufacture.
There were poultry associations, a beekeepers association,
and several live stock associations. From time to time the
suggestion was made that the work of these associations,
and that of the Agriculture and Arts Association and of the
bureau of Industries, should be co-ordinated, and a strong
department of Agriculture organized under a minister of
Agriculture holding a distinct portfolio in the Ontario
cabinet. Provision for this was made by the legislature in
1888, and in that year Charles Drury was appointed the first
minister of Agriculture. The bureau of Industries was
taken as the nucleus of the department, and Archibald Blue,
the secretary, was appointed deputy minister.

We have referred to the reaction that took place in Ontario
agriculture after the close of the American Civil War and the

574 HISTORY OF FARMING

abrogation of the reciprocity treaty. The high prices of the
Crimean War period had long since disappeared, the market
to the south had been narrowed, and the Western States
were pouring into the East the cheap grain products of a
rich virgin soil. Agricultural depression hung over the
province for years. Gradually, however, through the early
eighties the farmers began to recover their former prosperous
condition, sending increasing shipments of barley, sheep,
horses, eggs, and other commodities to the cities of the
Eastern States, so that at the close of the period to which
we are referring agricultural conditions were of a favourable
and prosperous nature.

THE MODERN PERIOD, 1888-1912

In 1888 a new period in Ontario s agricultural history
begins. The working forces of agriculture were being linked
together in the new department of Agriculture. Charles
Drury, the first minister of Agriculture, held office until
1890, being succeeded by John Dryden, who continued in
charge of the department until 1905, when a conservative
government took the place of the liberal government that
had been in power since 1871.

Two factors immediately began to play a most important
part in the agricultural situation : the opening up of the
north-western lands by the completion of the Canadian
Pacific Railway in 1886, and the enactment, on October 6,
1890, of the M c Kinley high tariff by the United States. The
former attracted Ontario s surplus population, and made it
no longer profitable or desirable to grow wheat in the pro
vince for export ; the latter closed the doors to the export
of barley, live stock, butter, and eggs. The situation was
desperate ; agriculture was passing through a period of most
trying experience. Any other industry than that of agricul
ture would have been bankrupted. The only hope of the
Ontario farmer now was in the British market. The sales
of one Ontario product, factory cheese, had been steadily
increasing in the great consuming districts of England and
Scotland, and there was reason to believe that other products

THE MODERN PERIOD 575

might be sold to equal advantage. Dairying was the one
line of agricultural work that helped to tide over the situation
in the early nineties. The methods that had succeeded in
building up the cheese industry must be applied to other
lines, and all the organized forces must be co-ordinated in
carrying this out. This was work for a department of Agri
culture, and the minister of Agriculture, John Dryden, who
guided and directed this co-operation of forces and made
plans for the future growth and expansion of agricultural
work, was an imperialist indeed who, in days of depression
and difficulty, directed forces and devised plans that not only
helped the agricultural classes to recover their prosperity,
but also made for the strengthening of imperial ties and the
working out of national greatness.

The British market presented new conditions, new
demands. The North-West could send her raw products in
the shape of wheat ; Ontario must send finished products
beef, bacon, cheese, butter, fruit, eggs, and poultry these
and similar products could be marketed in large quantities
if only they could be supplied of right quality. Transporta
tion of the right kind was a prime necessity. Lumber, wheat,
and other rough products could be handled without diffi
culty, but perishable goods demanded special accommoda
tion. This was a matter belonging to the government of
Canada, and to it the Dominion department of Agriculture
at once began to give attention. The production of the
goods for shipment was a matter for provincial direction.
Gradually the farmers of the province adapted themselves
to the new conditions and after a time recovered their lost
ground. General prosperity came in sight again about 1895.
For several years after this the output of beef, bacon, and
cheese increased steadily, and the gains made in the British
market more than offset the loss of the United States market.
It was during the five years after 1890 that the farmers
suffered so severely while adjusting their work to the new
conditions. With these expanding lines of British trade
products, the values of stock, implements, and buildings made
steady advance, and in 1901 the total value of all farm pro
perty in the province crossed the billion dollar mark. Since

576 HISTORY OF FARMING

that year the annual increase in total farm values has been
approximately forty million dollars. The following state
ment of total farm values in Ontario, as compiled by the
Ontario bureau of Industries, the statistical branch of the
department of Agriculture, is very suggestive :

Total Farm Values

1885 . . 8958,159,740 1895 $931,989,574

1886 . - 989,497,911 1896 . 910,291,623

1887 . . 975,292,214 1897 . 905, 93,6i3

1888 . . 981,368,094 1898 . 923,022,420

1889 . . 982,210,664 1899 . 947,5 I 3,36o

1890 . . 970,9 2 7,035 !900 974,8i4,93i

1891 . . 971,886,068 1901 . . 1,001,323,296

1892 . . 979,977,244 1902 . . 1,044,894,332

1893 . . 970,361,070 1906 . . 1,189,119,120

1894 . 954,395.507 1909 1,241,019,109

From the above table it will be seen that the closing of the
United States markets in 1890 was followed by a deprecia
tion in general farm values which lasted until 1898, when the
upward movement that has continued ever since set in.

And now let us see how the population was changing, as
to its distribution between rural and urban, during these
years. First, we shall give the assessed population.

Rural Urban

1884 . 1,117,880 . . 636,187

1885 . - - 1,126,554 . . 658,406
1890 . 1,117,533 800,041
1895 . 1,109,013 . . 848,377
1900 . . 1,094,246 . 919,614
1905 . . 1,059,379 1-042,881
1909 . . 1,049,240 . 1,240,198

The Canadian Pacific Railway opened up the wheat lands
of the West in 1886. At that time the rural population was
nearly double the urban ; in 1905 they were about equal ;
and six years later the urban population of Ontario exceeded
the rural.

THE MODERN PERIOD 577

The Dominion census figures are as follows :

Rural Urban

I9H 1,194,785 . . . 1,328,489

1901 - . . 1,246,969 . . . 935,978

Increase . . 392,511

Decrease . 52,184 . . .

It will thus be seen that during the past twenty-five
years there has been a steady increase in the consumers of
food products in Ontario and a slight decrease in the pro
ducers of the same. The surplus population of the farms
has gone to the towns and cities of Ontario and to the western
provinces. Now for a moment let us follow these people to
the West. Many of them have gone on the land to produce
wheat. Wheat for the European market has been their
principal product, therefore they in turn have become con
sumers of large quantities of food that they do not them
selves produce but must obtain from farmers elsewhere.
But not all who have gone West have become farmers. The
Dominion census of 1911 gives the following statement of
population for the provinces and districts west of Lake
Superior :

Rural Urban

19 1,059,681 . . . 681,216

1901 . . 446,050 . . . 199,467

Increase . 613,631 . . . 481,749

The western provinces are generally considered to be almost
purely agricultural, and yet the percentage increase of urban
population has been nearly double the percentage increase
of rural population. And this rapidly growing urban popula
tion also has demanded food products. Their own farmers
grow wheat and oats and barley. British Columbia produces
fruit for her own people and some surplus for the prairie pro
vinces. There is some stock-raising, but the rapid extension
of wheat areas has interfered with the great stock ranches.
From out of the Great West, therefore, there has come an
increasing demand for many food products. Add to this the
growing home market in Ontario, and, keeping in mind that

578 HISTORY OF FARMING

the West can grow wheat more cheaply than Ontario, it will
be understood why of recent years the Ontario farmer has
been compelled to give up the production of wheat for export.
His line of successful and profitable work has been in produc
ing to supply the demands of his own growing home market,
and the demands of the rapidly increasing people of the West,
both rural and urban, and also to share in the insatiable
market of Great Britain. Another element of more recent
origin has been the small but very profitable market of
Northern Ontario, where lumbering, mining, and railroad
construction have been so active in the past five or six years.
The result of all this has been a great increase in fruit pro
duction. Old orchards have been revived and new orchards
have been set out. The extension of the canning industry also
is most noticeable, and has occasioned the production of fruits
and vegetables in enormous quantities. Special crops such
as tobacco, beans, and sugar beets are being grown in counties
where soil and climatic conditions are favourable. The pro
duction of poultry and eggs is also receiving more attention
each succeeding year. The growth of cities is creating an
increasing demand for milk, and the production of factory-
made butter and cheese is also increasing, as the following
figures for Ontario from the Dominion census prove :

Butter Cheese

1900 . . 7.559,54 2 lb - 131,967,612 lb.

1910 . . . I3>699i53 157,631,883
For the past ten or twelve years the farmers of Ontario
have been slowly adjusting their work to the new situation,
and the transition is continuing. While in some sections
farms are being enlarged so as to permit the more extensive
use of labour-saving machinery and the more economical
handling of live stock, in other sections, particularly in
counties adjacent to the Great Lakes, large farms are being
cut up into smaller holdings and intensive production of fruits
and vegetables is now the practice. This, of course, results
in a steady increase in land values and is followed by an
increase in rural population. The farmers of Ontario are
putting forth every effort to meet the demands for food
products. The one great difficulty that they have encoun-

THE MODERN PERIOD 579

tered has been the scarcity of farm labour. Men have come
from Europe by the tens of thousands, but they have been
drawn largely to the growing towns and cities by the high
wages offered in industrial lines ; and the West, the Golden
West as it is sometimes called, has proved an even stronger
attraction. It seems rarely to occur to the new arrival that
the average farm in Ontario could produce more than a
quarter section of prairie land. Signs, however, point to an
increase in rural population, through the spread of intensive
agriculture.

Before referring to the methods of instruction and assist
ance provided for the developing of this new agriculture
in Ontario, reference should be made to one thing that is
generally overlooked by those who periodically discover this
rapid urban increase, and who moralize most gloomily upon
a movement that is to be found in nearly every progressive
country of the civilized world. In the days of early settle
ment the farmer and his family supplied nearly all their
own wants. The farmer produced all his own food ; he
killed his own stock, salted his pork, and smoked his hams.
His wife was expert in spinning and weaving, and plaited
the straw hats for the family. The journeyman shoemaker
dropped in and fitted out the family with boots. The great
city industries were then unknown. The farmer s wife in
those days was perhaps the most expert master of trades
ever known. She could spin and weave, make a carpet or
a rug, dye yarns and clothes, and make a straw hat or a birch
broom. Butter, cheese, and maple sugar were products of
her skill, as well as bread, soap, canned fruits, and home
made wine. In those days the farm was a miniature factory
or combination of factories. Many, in fact most, of these
industries have gradually moved out of the farm home and
have been concentrated in great factories ; and the pedlar
with his pack has disappeared under a shower of catalogues
from the departmental city store. In other words, a large
portion of work once done upon the farm and at the country
cross-roads has been transferred to the town and city, and
this, in some part, explains the modern movement citywards
there has been a transference from country to city not

VOL. xvm 2 Q

58o HISTORY OF FARMING

only of people but also of industries. Whether this has been
in the interests of the people is another question, but the
process is still going on, and what further changes may take
place it is difficult to determine and unwise to forecast.

And now let us see what agencies and organizations have
been used in the development of the special lines of agricul
ture since the creation of the department in 1888. We have
stated that the Agriculture and Arts Association had been
for many years the directing force in provincial agricultural
organization. It held an annual provincial exhibition ; it
issued the diplomas to the graduates of the Ontario Veter
inary College ; and it controlled the various live stock
associations that were interested in the registration of stock.
Shortly after 1888 legislation was enacted transferring the
work to the department of Agriculture. The place for hold
ing the provincial exhibition was changed from year to year.
In 1879 a charter was obtained by special act for the Toronto
Industrial Exhibition, the basis of which was the Toronto
Electoral Agricultural Society. Out of this came the annual
Toronto Exhibition, now known as the Canadian National Ex
hibition, and the governmental exhibition was discontinued.

The Ontario Veterinary College was a privately owned
institution, though the diplomas were issued by the Agricul
ture and Arts Association. The royal commission appointed
in 1905 to investigate the University of Toronto recom
mended the taking over of this association by the govern
ment, and as a result it passed under the control of the
department of Agriculture in 1908, and was affiliated with
the University of Toronto. Since that time the diploma of
Veterinary Surgeon (V.S.) has been issued by the minister
of Agriculture, and a supplementary degree of Bachelor of
Veterinary Science (B.V.Sc.) has been granted by the uni
versity. The taking over of this institution by the govern
ment, the resuming by the province of its original prerogative,
was accompanied by an enlargement of the course, an extension
from two years to three years in the period of instruction, and
a strengthening of the faculty. The herd-books or pedigree
record books were, in most cases, Canadian, and it was felt
that they should be located at the capital of the Dominion.

THE MODERN PERIOD 581

These have therefore been transferred to Ottawa and are
now conducted under Dominion regulations.

The Ontario bureau of Industries was the basis of organiza
tion of the department. As other work was added the
department grew in size and importance, and the various
branches were instituted until there developed a well-organized
department having the following subdivisions :

The Agricultural College,

The Veterinary College,

The Agricultural and Horticultural Societies Branch,

The Live Stock Branch,

The Farmers and Women s Institutes Branch,

The Dairy Branch,

The Fruit Branch,

The Statistical Branch,

The Immigration and Colonization Branch.

Each branch is in charge of a special officer. In addition to
the above there is a lot of miscellaneous work, which as it
develops will probably be organized into separate branches,
such as farm forestry, district representatives, etc.

John Dryden was in 1905 succeeded as minister of
Agriculture by Nelson Monteith, who in 1908 was succeeded
by J. S. Duff. Under their care the department has grown
and expanded, and through their recommendations, year by
year, increasing amounts of money have been obtained for the
extension of agricultural instruction and the more thorough
working out of plans inaugurated in the earlier years of depart
mental organization.

The history of agricultural work in Ontario in recent years
may be put under two heads expansion of the various
organizations and extension of their operations, and the
development of what may be called field work. Farmers
institutes and women s institutes have multiplied ; agri
cultural societies now cover the entire province ; local horse
associations, poultry associations, and beekeepers associa
tions have been encouraged ; winter fairs for live stock have
been established at Guelph and Ottawa ; dairy instructors
have been increased in number and efficiency ; short courses
in live stock, seed improvement, fruit work, and dairying have

582 HISTORY OF FARMING

been held ; and farm drainage has received practical en
couragement. Perhaps the most important advance of late
years has resulted through the appointment of what are known
as district representatives. In co-operation with the depart
ment of Education, graduates of the Agricultural College have
been permanently located in the various counties to study the
agricultural conditions and to initiate and direct any move
ment that would assist in developing the agricultural work.
These graduates organize short courses at various centres,
conduct classes in high schools, assist the farmers in procuring
the best seed, advise as to new lines of work, assist in drainage,
supervise the care of orchards in short, they carry the work
of the Agricultural College and of the various branches of
the department right to the farmer, and give that impetus to
better farming which can come only from personal contact.
The growth of the district representative system has been
remarkable : it was begun in seven counties in 1907, by 1910
fifteen counties had representatives, and in 1914 no fewer than
thirty-eight counties were so equipped. At first the farmers
distrusted and even somewhat opposed the movement, but
the district representative soon proved himself so helpful that
the government has found it difficult to comply with the
numerous requests for these apostles of scientific farming.
Approximately $125,000 is spent each year on the work by
the provincial government, in addition to the $500 granted
annually by the county to each district office. The result of
all this is that new and more profitable lines of farming are
being undertaken, specializing in production is being encour
aged, and Ontario agriculture is advancing rapidly along the
lines to which the soils, the climate, and the people are
adapted. A study of the history of Ontario agriculture
shows many changes in the past hundred years, but at no
time has there been so important and so interesting a de
velopment as that which took place in the opening decade
of the twentieth century.