Historical Articles Archive

In November, last, an association was formed in New Westminster, B.C., known as the Canadian Highway Association, with W. J. Kerr as president, and P. W. Luce as secretary. President Kerr, in a short leaflet, sent out by the secretary, is quoted as saying, “Good roads are a social and economic necessity, and good roads we will have all over Canada before I am ready to acknowledge that the work of the Canadian highway Association is finished.” It is to be hoped that his forecast...

An automobile came tearing through the night not long ago on a much-travelled highway. The glaring headlights cast volumes of light across the road, but blinded the vision of a pilgrim who happened to be travelling in a horse-drawn vehicle. For an instant the man hesitated; the horse was paralyzed with fright, but the suspense did not last for long. Crash! The car, without hesitating, went on into the night leaving only some fragmentary pieces of glass to indicate a minor damage to itself,...

Not infrequently we hear public speakers proclaiming the wonderful development of agriculture in this country, but it is evident that they fail to understand real conditions. A drive through the country and a visit to the homes of rural folk, the schools, churches and other institutions give the lie to any figures which statisticians can compile. It is most significant now that after five years during which time there has been little attention given to education that city and urban...

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 like sparrows In a golden canary’s cage, When I’d much rather be a follerin’ the harrows In a field perfumed with sage; I miss the...

The official opening of the Ontario Veterinary College, which was instructed during the past year by the Ontario Government, on College Heights, Guelph, Ont., took place on Dec. 12 under most auspicious circumstances, Hon. Manning Doherty, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, officiating and formally declaring the College open for the instruction of students in veterinary science. In spite of the cold day a large number of citizens from the city accepted the invitation of Principal Dr. McGilvray...

Our system of making hay varies considerably with the conditions under which we are working. Some years hay will cure much more quickly than others, owing to differences in weather conditions or in the rankness of the growth. We seldom cut red clover until it is in full bloom. In favorable weather is is usually cut one day, and drawn to the barn the following day. It is very rank and full of sap, we use the hay tedder the first day, and the second day, as soon as the dew is off, we rake it...

Having read with interest the article in the issue of October 1st, entitled, “School and Tariff Questions,” I would like to commend through your columns the note by “ed.,” appended to the above-mentioned article. Our friend, “Nottawasaga Farmer,” holds the idea that the school system of to-day is demoralizing the youth as regards the pursuing of farm life, and infers that the system might be remodelled to the accomplishment of his highly-commendable...

This is a subject very much talked of, written of, and spoken of, in fact, a subject in need of even more than the aforementioned activity. For myself, I wish to say at the outset that I also belong to the coming farmer class, and come in contact with quite a number of young people, both urban and rural. The subject will be taken at a number of number of different angles. There is the position of a wealthy and modern farmer’s son, that of the commoner class, and that of the poorer...

Some almost unbelievable things have taken place in our Province in the course of the past few weeks. A year ago it would have taken a pretty hardy prophet to have faced the ridicule he would have brought on himself by predicting a “Farmer’s” Government in Ontario. It has all come so suddenly and unexpectedly, at least to the majority of us, that we are still wondering how it was done. As in the case of other noteworthy accomplishment there has been, we know, forces...

I am angry! As a matter of fact I am boiling mad! All this past year we farmers have listened up to “no profiteering this war”. We have had the price of many of our products set at cost or below, but we have cheerfully carried on feeling that we were being patriotic. We have paid higher costs for almost everything we purchased and paid our labor somewhat higher wages and did little complaining when ends scarcely met at the end of the month. But a government project is...

It is nearly fifteen years now since a blue-eyed pioneer farmer of keen vision, a man by the name of Partridge, away out on the bleak Saskatchewan prairie, pointed to a silver lining which he saw edging the dark cloud of conditions in the grain trade at that time. He called it co-operation. “Why not let’s get together and market our own grain instead of taking so much sass from the other fellows?” he suggested. “You’re crazy, Ed!” cried many of those...

It is an easy task to make Christmas the happiest day of the year if we but only put a little thought and effort into fixing the tree and the presents. It does not take a great deal of money to make children happy, for usually they are satisfied with small things. But we older people will never forget the happy Christmas days of our childhood, when we were the recipients of pleasing little gifts from old Santa Claus. Many little children have never seen a Christmas tree, their parents...

One can hardly mark the fiftieth anniversary of Junior Farmer organization in Ontario, without being tempted to dust off the old crystal ball, to take a peak at what the next fifty years may have in store. CRYSTAL BALL GAZING Now, before you become too enthused, let’s remember that our crystal ball may have a few cracks in it, and we can’t guarantee its accuracy. Even so, let’s have a look into it’s misty depths. The past fifty years have seen many vast...

The word agriculture, derived from the Latin ager - a field plus culture, cultivation, meaning literally the cultivation of a field, the art or science of cultivating the ground, has gradually come to represent a great deal more than the original meaning was intended to convey. In Roman times, when class distinction played such a prominent part, the land was all owned by the patricians or upper class, while the actual labor of tilling the soil and its attendant duties was performed by the...

The above question is being asked daily in all directions so let us turn it out to the light and have a look. If the farm occupation or any occupation is in a very poor state we should be able to see the followers of that occupation with shrunken faces and tired, discouraged looks. But such is not the case. Nine farmers out of ten at least look to be well fed, happy and contented. The salaried man can earn two thousand dollars and not pay a cent of taxes. The farmer may earn less than a...

May I be allowed a small space in your valuable paper to speak a word to brother farmers on the question of the young folks leaving the farm? Although I am not, to say, a farmer on a large scale, but a rural mail carrier driving through the farmers’ community daily, still I suppose I should take some side like the professor in the following incident: “What were the doings over at the town hall last evening?” asked a farmer of his neighbor. “Oh, Professor Theopas Felex...

When the idea was first conceived of harnessing up the water power of Ontario and distributing the power so generated throughout the length and breadth of the province, it was generally thought that farmers would be the chief benefactors from such an undertaking. Such has not, however, been the case. Last year of the 300,000 or more horse power generated and distributed by the Hydro-Electric Commission, only 2,500 horse power was used by farmers, or considerable less than one percent of the...

I venture to draw your attention to an article in the May number of the English Review, entitled “Protection and Public Health,” being the text of a lecture delivered in London (Eng.) last marsh, by Sir Alfred Mond, Bart., M. P. Among much very interesting matter he quotes an instance of the casual connection between protection and disease furnished at the present moment by Italy. Italy has a very considerable duty on wheat. The Italians, it is said, cannot substitute rye or...

The American humourist, Will Rogers, said: “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.” This remark, made 40 years ago by a man with an ability to define in a light way some of the perplexing trends and facets of his society, is just as true today. Of course, knowledge is relative. If the most highly educated man of a hundred years ago were to return to earth, he would have to do a great deal of studying to assimilate the knowledge that is common to hundreds of...

“The need of relating our present school system more closely to agricultural life has been brought very forcibly of late years to the attention of the Provincial (Ontario) Government, and various steps in that direction have been taken, with greater or less timidity. Now, at the suggestion of the Department of Education, and for the purpose of training High School teachers in agriculture, it is proposed by Toronto, McMaster and Queen’s Universities that a special course in...