Historical Articles Archive

We recently received a letter from a subscriber which is of particular interest because it deals with questions which bear directly on the prosperity of the majority of the people of this country. Our correspondent starts out by asking: “What are the prospects this year for farmers?” This is a difficult question to answer definitely as so many factors have to be considered but, viewing the situation as a whole, it is our opinion that from now on conditions for farmers will...

Although present indications are that our agricultural production will be well maintained this year compared with former years, there is no doubt that if sufficient labor had been available we could have easily doubled production without turning a single furrow of virgin soil. In spite of strikes, high passenger rates, shortage of vessels, and other difficulties connected with transportation, many immigrants have come out to this country since the war and are now engaged in farming. The...

I wonder how many rural people have thought of the possibilities of a farm museum. During the past few years, while travelling through some of the rural districts of Old Ontario, I have seen some very fine collections of old-fashioned farming tools and pioneer relics. The array of old spinning wheels, ox-yokes, cradles, flails, cowbells, candle lanterns, etc., is always very interesting and in recent years to come the value of these things will be almost beyond price. Of course, only a few...

In an excellent introductory article on the subject of Wisconsin’s Agricultural High Schools our bright and pithy contemporaries, the Wisconsin Farmer, observes: "The popular conception of agriculture, until a few years ago, was that of an occupation which required no preparation but that of a large stock of muscle and brawn, and the relationship of a grandfather to show us the location of the permanent wheat, corn and rye fields. For the ordinary farmer, no great store of any...

This year the corn borer has increased in numbers to such an extent that it has attracted the attention of almost every grower and consumer of table corn as well as growers of field corn. The Provincial Entomologist, Professor R. W. Thompson, has sent us the following statement regarding the borer situation this year in Ontario: "This year the corn borer is more abundant in Ontario than it has been since 1927 and 1928 when the corn industry of Essex and Kent counties was seriously...

The use of low-grade dynamite containing about twenty percent of nitroglycerine for removing stumps and boulders impeding cultivation on the farm has been proven an unqualified success at many local demonstrations, as well as in the hands of numerous farmers employing it in ordinary use. The Farmer’s Advocate of May 16th 1912, described the results of a public demonstration at Weldwood, and we have ourselves since used the sumping powder, as it is called in Canada, with very...

The season of corn harvest is again at hand, and apparently we have quite an increase in corn borer infestation. It is probable that weather conditions prevailing during the growing season will be blamed for this increase in borers. However, here is one farmer who believes that weather conditions are not the only cause of increased damage by this voracious insect. In many districts one sees evidence of laxity in the enforcement of the Corn Borer Act. I have seen fields with almost...

Hallowe’en comes at such a fine time of the year for the boys and girls on the farm. Better decorations than money can buy are at hand without any cost, but the times spent in gathering and arranging them. Huge shocks of corn stacked in the corners, branches of leaves turned red and gold with autumnal colouring and made brighter by contrast with small fir trees and pieces of evergreen, the grinning faces of the Jack-o’Lanterns carved from the yellow pumpkins, dishes of bright...

Leafy June, when all the plant kingdom reaches the zenith of its summer glory, is chosen as the month in which to show the rural population of Ontario the beauties and the uses of the Ontario Agricultural College and Experimental Farm in Guelph. The Farmers’ Institute excursions for 1912 are now in full swing, and great crowds are conducted daily to places of greatest interest. While things look much the same each year, there is always something fresh to be learned, and the person who...

The cutting of $150,000 off expenditure at the Ontario Agricultural College, as reported in the daily press, is at first thought a very popular move. In these days when taxes are all out of line with income, cutting expenses in every direction seems good business, but possibly it still pays to spend some money, just as it pays to spend more for better seed. We question if lopping off $150,000 will not greatly curtail the efficiency of the College- especially when it means the loss of the...

Important among the several new laws and regulations affecting the farmer, which were passed at this year’s session of the Dominion Parliament, is the Farmers’ Creditors Arrangement Act which provides for a simple and inexpensive legal procedure by which a farmer over-burdened with debt may arrange a compromise with his creditors and so get off to a new start, financially speaking. It is essentially an Act to provide for the farmer at little expense, an opportunity to make an...

The first Legislature in Canada to be guided through the political labyrinth of a session by a purely farmer and labour group has recently been prorogued, and the people of this and other provinces can now look back and form their own conclusions as to the results. Nothing sensational transpired during the session, but a fair amount of legislation was enacted. The outstanding feature of the term was the frank and open manner adopted by the Government, and the attempt made to get away from...

The “electronic computer” has been hailed as having possibly more beneficial potential for the human race than any other invention in history. It has already changed or affected whole areas of society by opening up vast new possibilities by its extraordinary feats of memory calculation. It has given new horizons to the fields of science and medicine, changed the techniques of education and improved the efficiency of Government. What is a computer? Basically a digital computer...

Scientific invention is rapidly changing the conditions on the farm. The farmer of to-day can have, if he wishes, all the conveniences which formerly were only enjoyed by the city man. Running water, both hot and cold, can be had for comparatively little expense. Farmers in most sections of Ontario now get their mail delivered practically at their door. They can talk to their friends living miles away over the telephone, and by simply turning a switch have their house or barn lighted in an...

By opening avenues of trade, negotiating trade treaties and otherwise, nations recognize the economy and beneficence of international exchange. There is mutual profit in a fair trade, or, as the catch phrase has it, “Fair exchange is no robbery.” Strange, then, that tariffs and other devices are so ingeniously invented to obstruct a commerce which instinct, reason and experience commend as beneficial. Of course, the incongruity arises from a conception that it is more blessed to...

The almost solid demand from the West and the Maritime Province for a low tariff, and the demand from the manufacturing centres of Ontario and Quebec for a high tariff make statesmen in this country no sinecure. The suggestion made a short time ago by the Hon. F. B. McCurdy, who was Minister of Public Works in the Meighen Government, that Nova Scotia should be permitted to control its own tariff policy shows what an important place the tariff occupies in the politics and government of this...

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 surroundings in the rural districts - evidently a lack of dress-coats and low-necked dresses, so to speak. Well, I...

Again and again the plaintive quest is heard, “What will keep boys on the farm?” Will money-making do it? No, for the exceptionally clever boy can generally make more money in the city, where a certain number of opportunities are found to realize in the labor of others. Will the introduction of urban facilities and privileges into the country keep the boys there? Will rural telephones, rural mail delivery, improved roads, multiplication of electric lines, modern-fitted country...

Plowing is the first thing farmers do when preparing for the crop. And I have always said that you are half done when you have a field that is well plowed. On the other hand, the field that is merely rooted around a bit, then sown in the same manner, is never done. The well-plowed field will produce you a good crop, while the poorly-plowed or rooted field will grow you a lot of weeds with which to wrestle and yield poor returns. Suppose we take a drive around the country. As we go along...

The relative merits of the tractor and the horse for doing farm work is a question which could be argued until Doomsday without arriving at a conclusion that would be satisfactory to all concerned. The tractor enthusiasts can quote figures to show that the tractor performs work more cheaply than horses, and those who back the horse can produce figures equally convincing to prove that for real economy the tractor is not in it with the horse. Much of the discussion that has taken place on...