History of Farming in Ontario Part 2

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 encountered 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 a.s.sistance 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 settlement 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. b.u.t.ter, 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 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 agriculture since the creation of the department in 1888. We have stated that the Agriculture and Arts a.s.sociation 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 Veterinary College; and it controlled the various live stock a.s.sociations 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 holding 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 Exhibition, and the governmental exhibition was discontinued.

The Ontario Veterinary College was a privately owned inst.i.tution, though the diplomas were issued by the Agriculture and Arts a.s.sociation.

The royal commission appointed in 1905 to investigate the University of Toronto recommended the taking over of this a.s.sociation by the government, and as a result it pa.s.sed 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 university. The taking over of this inst.i.tution by the government, 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. These have therefore been transferred to Ottawa and are now conducted under Dominion regulations.

The Ontario bureau of Industries was the basis of organization of the department. As other work was added the department grew in size and importance, and the various branches were inst.i.tuted 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 Inst.i.tutes 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 departmental 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' inst.i.tutes and women's inst.i.tutes have multiplied; agricultural societies now cover the entire province; local horse a.s.sociations, poultry a.s.sociations, and beekeepers' a.s.sociations 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 been held; and farm drainage has received practical encouragement. 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 department 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 movement that would a.s.sist in developing the agricultural work. These graduates organize short courses at various centres, conduct cla.s.ses in high schools, a.s.sist the farmers in procuring the best seed, advise as to new lines of work, a.s.sist 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 encouraged, 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 development as that which took place in the opening decade of the twentieth century.

[Signature: C C James]