News from our rich agriculture history

The Farms.com farm and rural history website is dedicated to celebrating and digitizing the last 150 years of success in the Canadian agriculture and food industry. The agriculture and food industries in Canada have a rich heritage of innovation, and have laid a foundation of excellence upon which we continue to grow. We celebrate Canada’s food and agriculture innovations on these pages.

Lament of the Ex-Farmer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | OCTOBER 1. 1908 | THE FARMER'S ADVOCATE

I wish I’d never left the farm,
To please my wife I done it;
She said “‘Twould do our darters harm
Ef they wuz raised upon it;
They’d grow up frowsy, rough and wild,
And marry some simple Harry,
While in the town a well-bred child
Would hev’ some chance to marry.”

And now we’re here shet up

This cartoon originally appeared in the May 1934 issue of The Farmer. It was intended to be a humorous satire of the proposed National Products Marketing Act, which was

This is an example of an antique stump extractor used to expedite the process of removing tree stumps, or even large stones that would be too difficult to remove by hand.

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WHY FARMERS' SONS LEAVE THE FARM

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | AUGUST 18, 1910 | THE FARMER'S ADVOCATE

Having read for some time letters appearing in your esteemed paper with the above heading, I feel tempted to also add a few lines to an old subject.

Some of the writers, ladies, evidently, from the city, who do not seem to have much to do but attend afternoon teas and balls, and study the fashions and the society columns seem to think that the exodus is due to the slovenly

William Johnston

JULY 24, 1848 - JANUARY 7, 1885

William Johnston was a hugely significant figure in the history of agricultural education in Canada. He was the unofficial founder and first principal of the Ontario Agricultural College, the predecessor of the University of Guelph.

Johnston was born in Lockerbie, Scotland on July 24, 1848, the son of David Johnston. His family emigrated to Canada when he was but three years old, settling in Cobourg, Canada West. His passion and dedication for teaching began very early in his life and is demonstrated by the fact that he taught school in Northumberland County at only 15 years of

Harvey Farrington

MARCH 29, 1809 - DECEMBER 8, 1878

Harvey Farrington holds the momentous distinction of establishing one of the central pillars of the Canadian dairy industry - commercial cheesemaking. Although farmers have been making cheese for as long as history records, the industrial production of cheese is an innovation of the nineteenth century. Harvey Farrington was responsible for laying the foundations of this valuable export industry in Canada, although he was not born here.

Harvey Farrington was born on March 29, 1809 in Herkimer County, New York. Not much is known about his early life, except that by the age of

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News from our rich agriculture history

Lament of the Ex-Farmer

Kin I Sow Oats

STUMP LIFTER

WHY FARMERS' SONS LEAVE THE FARM

lives lived

William Johnston

Harvey Farrington