Canada and the Canadian Question/Appendix B

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The climate of Ontario admits of the growing of as great a variety of produce as that of England, the natural capabilities of her soils are probably greater, and she is ahead of Great Britain in the introduction and use of agricultural implements of the most approved kinds.

The Province produces finer samples of various kinds of grain, a greater variety of the pure breeds of live stock, and a better quality of several of the most useful kinds of fruit, than any other province or state on the North American Continent. It is not, we fear, generally known that the people of this Province ship annually to Great Britain from one-third to one-fourth as many finished bullocks as the whole of the United States, and that we export annually to the latter country, in the face of a high tariff to the extent of many millions of dollars, the same kinds of agricultural products that are grown in that great Republic. In the hope of dispelling in some degree misconceptions and of disseminating the truth, the writer has consented to prepare this brief essay.

We do not claim for the Province the first place in the world for agricultural resources and development, but we do claim for it a foremost place. If the reader will but bear in mind that one hundred years ago nearly the whole of Ontario was primeval forest, and that seventy years ago the very spot on which these college walls now stand was the home of the wild beast, he will concur in the conclusion that the development of the agricultural resources of this country has been simply wonderful.

The climate of Ontario is very invigorating. In the summer it is rather warm, but the amount of bright sunshine, especially in the ​harvest months, is very favourable to the quick conducting of the operations of the husbandman. Some seasons there are not half a dozen showers through the whole of the harvest time. During other seasons it is different, but grain or fodder is seldom spoiled from over-much moisture. The winters of Ontario are not so favourable to the operations of the husbandman; as he cannot usually conduct field operations after the end of November nor before the middle of April. His stock also requires to be housed during that season, which necessitates a large output of food and labour. The season of growth is very rapid. Barley sown during the closing days of April is often housed before the end of July. Field operations must therefore of necessity be done in a somewhat hurried manner. The climate seems to suit stock-growing admirably, as the diseases which so often hamper and thwart the efforts of the stockman in Europe are unknown here. We have no pleuro-pneumonia, nor foot-and-mouth disease amongst our cattle. The swine plague is unknown. There is no active disease at work amongst our flocks of sheep, and the same may be truthfully said of our horses. This happy immunity from disease is a great boon to the grower of live stock.

The soil of Ontario is varied in an unusual degree. The Province embraces all shades of soil, from a light sand to a heavy clay; its prevailing character is that of a clay loam. Relatively it is rich and productive, more so perhaps than any similar area in the North American Continent. Considerable portions of it do not require under-draining owing to the porous nature of the subsoil, and yet it cannot be said of any large area of it that it is leachy, although much of it is not yet under-drained. This work is now being carried on with a great deal of vigour in several sections. It is owing to the varied nature of the soil of Ontario that so large a variety of crops may be grown. In this respect the Province is singularly favoured. In the western half of it fall wheat can be grown of the first quality. The Ontario six rowed barley is not equalled perhaps by any in the world for brightness of colour, and for its suitability to make beer such as the Americans desire. Heavy crops of rye, spring wheat, oats, and peas can be grown in almost any part of the Province. Indian corn or maize flourishes in the Lake Erie counties, where it can be grown to great perfection, and it will grow admirably throughout the whole Province for ensilage or fodder purposes It is now being grown very extensively for these uses, and the average quantity of green corn that can be grown on an acre in one season is probably not less than 15 to 18 tons. Buckwheat, though not much grown, does very well in all parts except in the most

northerly counties. The Province is not only admirably adapted to the growth and proper curing of hay, composed of a variety of grasses and clovers, but ​it will grow field roots, such as turnips, mangels, and carrots in fine form in nearly all the counties. Sugar beets may also be readily grown, yielding by analysis fully as high a percentage as can be obtained in Germany or France, but as yet we have no sugar beet factories established.

Rape may also he grown in great perfection, and the fattening of lambs on this for the United States market by pasturing is becoming an important trade. The southerly sections of Ontario are admirably adapted to the growing of many kinds of fruits. The climate in these is tempered by proximity to the waters of the Great Lakes. Small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries, will grow well in almost any section of the country. All the Lake counties, and indeed all the counties of the West, grow apples, excellent in quality and in great abundance in favourable years. Pears, plums, and cherries produce well in the same sections. Peaches flourish in certain sections of Lakes Erie and Ontario, though the crop is somewhat pre-carious. In the same localities enormous quantities of the finest grapes are now being grown. Garden vegetables of many kinds, including squash, celery, tomatoes, melons, etc., are grown in finest form. In 1888, 180,557 acres were devoted to orchard and garden purposes. The immense original forests of Ontario are largely a thing of the past. Generally speaking, the farmers have sufficient timber for fuel, but many of them have not a sufficient supply for building purposes. Almost the only timber now used for fencing purposes in cedar, utilised in the form of posts on which wires are stretched, either with or without barbs. Re-foresting is only in its infancy, but trees planted for purposes of protection in winter are now becoming quite common. In 1888 the returns of the assessors gave the amount of farm lands in the Province as 22,058,279 acres—

The amount returned as woodland does not by any means represent unbroken forest, but lands as yet uncultivated, and from a large portion of which the forest has been largely removed.

In the same year the staple field crops occupied 7,616,350 acres, and the pasture grounds 2,535,604 acres. There has been a marked decrease in the number of acres devoted to pasture during recent years, owing to the great increase in the growth of soiling and ensilage crops.

Although at the time of writing the report for 1889 of the Bureau of Industries is not yet published, through the kindness of its secretary, Mr. A. Blue, we are enabled to give in advance the following statistics relating to the agriculture of Ontario in 1889:— ​

The aggregate returns given in the above Table and the avenge yield per acre compare as follows, with the same during the seven preceding years:

From these figures it is apparent that the fine natural capabilities of the soil of Ontario have not as yet been brought out in best form. But while this is true it should be remembered that Ontario leads the North American continent in the yield obtained per acre from the principal cereal crops. During the seven years ending with 1888 the average yield of fall wheat from Ontario exceeded that of any State in the Union 4-1 bushels per acre, barley 3 bushels per acre, and oats 1.5 ​bushels per acre. The State giving the largest return of fall wheat during this term was Michigan; spring wheat, Dakota; barley, Wisconsin; and cats, Illinois.

The average prices obtained in the leading cities of Ontario for the various crops grown during the preceding seven years ending 1888 are given in the following table:—

Number of Live Stock—

Horses	618,795
Cattle	1,891,899	(779,171 being milch cows)
Sheep	1,344,180
Swine	835,469
Poultry	6,304,298

The principal breeds of horses bred pure are the Clydesdale, the Shire, and Percheron of the heavy breeds, and of the light ones the Standard bred trotting horse, and the Cleveland Bay. The Clydes are by far the most numerous. The chief of the breeds of cattle bred pure are the Shorthorn, the Hereford, the Aberdeen Angus Poll, the Galloway, the West Highland, the Devon, the Ayrshire, the Jersey, the Guernsey, and the Holstein. Of these, Shorthorns are by far the most numerous. The leading pure breeds of sheep include the Leicester, the Lincoln, the Cotswold, the Oxford Down, the Shropshire Down, the Hampshire Down, the Southdown, the Horned Dorset, and the Merino.

Of these the Leicester is the longest established in the country. The chief of the pure breeds of swine are the Berkshire, the Yorkshire, the Essex, the Suffolk, the Poland China, the Chester White, and the Tamworth. Of these the Berkshire is the best established. No one State or Province of the continent can compare with Ontario in the number of the pure bred animals produced, taken as a whole, in the variety of the breeds, or in the individual excellence of the animals composing them. Because of this Ontario has become in a sense a ​breeding ground of pure stock of a high order for almost every State in the American Union.

Nearly all the butter as yet produced in Ontario is made in private dairies.

No better idea can be obtained of the great agricultural capabilities of this Province intrinsically and relatively than by glancing over a summary of the exports. Owing to the method adopted in making up the official trade and navigation returns for the Dominion of Canada and its respective Provinces, it has been found impossible to ascertain exactly the relative proportion of the agricultural products exported from Ontario to Great Britain and the United States respectively. Ontario has no shipping port, and those engaged in making up the trade returns place the products exported to the credit of the country from which they have been finally shipped. Thus it is that Quebec Province, with Montreal as the leading shipping port for Ontario, is credited with the production of a large proportion of the shipments from Ontario, For instance, in the official returns which end 30th June 1889, Ontario is represented as having shipped to Great Britain during the preceding twelve months, of animals and their produce to the value of $2,139,450; and Quebec as having exported of the same, to the value of $13,477,182. The true facts of the case are that nearly the whole of this produce came from Ontario, as it consisted almost wholly of fat and store cattle, sheep, and cheese, of which Quebec Province produces very little for export. If the exports from the two Provinces be added together, and say five-sixths of the whole, or a still larger proportion, credited to Ontario, we will then get an approximate idea of the extent of the Ontario exports.

​The following summary is taken from the official returns for the fiscal year ending 30th June 1889. It relates to the exports of agricultural products from Ontario and Quebec together as compared with. those of the whole Dominion:—

This implies that probably more than three-fourths of the agricultural products of the whole Dominion are produced by Ontario.

Ontario produces and exports the greater portion of the cattle and sheep that are sent out of the Dominion. Of the former about 60,000 head have been sent annually to Great Britain, and 40,000 head to the United States during recent years. The same may be said of sheep, of which about 30,000 head are sent annually to Great Britain, and 300,000 head to the United States. The same is also true of horses, of which about 16,000 head are sent annually to the United States. The cheese export from Ontario and Quebec, for the year ending 30th June 1890, was 88,041,857 pounds, and was valued at $9,465,936. The value put upon the cheese at the port of shipment is higher than the estimate put upon it in the factory returns. The same year Ontario exported eggs to the United States to the value of $1,544,974, apples to Great Britain to the value of $1,013,909, and to the United States to the value of $179,247. Ontario is the principal producer in the Dominion of all the aforementioned articles; and also exports wool, flax, and beans in considerable quantities. Her export of barley for the year referred to above was 9,716,993 bushels, valued at $6,329,502.

The exports of all other kinds of grain have dwindled to almost nothing, and are sure to decrease still further, as without a doubt Ontario is destined to grow great through the production of live stock and live stock products.

Although the methods practised by the Ontario farmer are defective in many respects relatively, his practice is advanced when com-pared with that of the other Provinces and States of North America. No other proof of this is required than the success which has attended his efforts in capturing foreign markets in competition with the people of all nations. Fat bullocks sent from Ontario command high prices in the markets of Liverpool, store steers are eagerly bought up by Scottish farmers in Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee. Ontario cheese commands the highest price in the markets of London, and Ontario apples can at any time find purchasers on British docks more readily than those from the United States. Ontario barley ​flowed into the New England States in a stream so constant that it has been thought necessary by the United States Government to bar its entrance by a duty of 30 cents per bushel, Our horses have been sought for to the extent of about $2,000,000 annually by the people of that country, and these, along with large numbers of our store cattle, have climbed over a tariff wall in the face of a 20 per cent duty; and now our lambs are entering their markets in thousands and tens of thousands, although a duty of 75 cents has to be paid on every lamb going into that country.

A very large portion of the pure-bred live stock imported into this country from Britain finds its way over our Western border into the United States; and our best market for the pure bred horses, cattle, sheep, and swine that we raise is found in that market, Methods which give such results as these cannot be behind the age when viewed as a whole, In Ontario we have some specialists in various lines, but the system generally adopted is more commonly known by the name of "mixed" farming. Those who practise mixed farming rear a sufficient number of horses to till their lands, and occasionally one or two for sale. The sale of butter from their cows and of poultry and eggs keeps the family in groceries; generally more or less beef, mutton, and pork are sold in addition to what is used in the family. Nearly all the grain and fodder required, if not the whole of these, is grown upon the farm, and sometimes a considerable portion is also sold in the local markets.

A very large proportion of the work done upon the farm is now done by machinery. Much of the ploughing is done by the use of the sulky plough, and much of the harrowing by the use of the sulky harrow. Machines are also being introduced which will enable cultivating to be done in the same way. The sowing is almost entirely done by the use of the seed-drill. The mowing and reaping are done by the use of machines. A large proportion of the pea crop is cut by the pea harvester. The sulky horse-rake does all the raking. Hay loaders load much of the hay, and horse forks deposit much of it in the mow. In some instances sack-lifters elevate the loads bodily to a high position in the barns, and in others the load is carried into the mow from off the waggon by means of slings. Threshing machines are of the first order, and they are run by steam-engines which have been so perfected in their appendages that they may be set 300 yards away from the barn. The steam-engine is often used in preparing food for the stock, and windmills are frequently employed in pum-ing water for their use. The extent to which the aid of machinery is called in enables the farmer to get over his work with much expedition, and with a much reduced expenditure of bodily strength.

The live stock is all housed in winter, sometimes in sheds, but more frequently in what are termed basement stables, that is, stables ​the walls of which are of stone, brick, or wood lined with tar-paper, and these support a wooden building, usually termed a barn, in which are stored the food supplies. The live stock being in the lower apartment, the food and litter kept overhead are thus very easily fed to them. In many of the buildings the cattle drink without leaving the stalls, and other facilities for doing the work are equally perfect.

The system of farming practised by the first settlers may justly be termed a land-robbing one. In clearing the land they cut down the heavy growth of timber which covered the soil, applied to it the torch, and reduced the whole to ashes. There was thus added to the stores of fertility, that had been accumulating for ages preceding, an immense quantity of potash. Thus it was that the farmer could go on and grow wheat year after year with an ample return at first, but which after a time gradually became less, until the crop proved unremunerative. Thus it was also that slovenly methods of farming came to prevail which even now in many sections are sapping the prosperity of Canadian farming.

In this respect, however, the dawn of a brighter day has arrived. Ontario has almost entirely ceased to be an exporting country of grain, or indeed of food of any kind that may be fed to stock; such food is almost entirely fed upon the farm, which of course tends to the retention of its fertility. Were it not for the duty of 74 cents per bushel on Indian corn or maize brought from the United States, large quantities of this would be imported and used by our farmers in fattening their stock. Artificial fertilisers are also beginning to be used, but their use has not as yet become general. As the Dominion is rich in phosphates and other forms of artificial fertilisers, we may confidently hope that the farmer, who is fast awakening to a sense of the value of such manures, will use them as regularly as he now does those which are made in the barnyard.

We may confidently hope then that the period of soil exhaustion is rapidly drawing to a close, and that it will be followed by one of soil enrichinent. Ontario is already importing food for live stock from Manitoba and the North-West, and these importations will undoubtedly increase from year to year, all of which will be favourable to the retention of the fertility of our soils if not to its positive increase.

The condition of the farmer socially is not all that could be desired. The farmer in Ontario does not occupy the same position in society relatively with the farmer of Great Britain. The social distinctions are largely obliterated between him and the labourer which he employs. Nor in the community generally does he occupy that high position socially to which the dignity of his calling should ​entitle him. The first has arisen from influences inseparably associated with the early settlement of the country. Nearly all the early settlers in Canada were immigrants from Britain, who came from the labouring classes. Each family did its own work at first, both within the log cabin and without. After a time other help had to be called in, and from the nature of things the labourer of necessity had to lodge with his employer. The employer then usually made a bargain with the employed to the effect that he would pay the former a certain sum for a given time and furnish board, lodging, and washing. Thus it was that a system originated which tends to obliterate all social distinctions between the farmer and those whom he employs. This state of matters is, however, gradually changing. It is slowly giving way to that system which furnishes cottages for the labourer and his family. In many instances one of the cottagers provides board and lodging for the other portion of the hired help of the farm, and before very long it is not at all improbable that the necessary accommodation for the assistants of the farm will be furnished in this way. In this tendency to obliterate social distinctions between the farmer and his hired help there was really no hardship imposed upon the former, where he did not desire to have it otherwise, but when he wished to carry on the work of the farm and at the same time maintain sacred the privacy of his home, he was not always able to do o because of the scarcity of labour. The labourer from the vantage ground which was thus given him became dictatorial in his attitude, and oftentimes compelled the farmer to come to terms. But with the increase of population and the introduction of improved machinery all this is rapidly changing, insomuch that it is probable that ere long the help employed upon the farm will not be lodged and fed in the house of the farmer.

The diet of the Ontario farmer is not what it should be, or what it might be. No class of people in the world are better situated in regard to opportunity for providing a suitable diet. The country provides in abundance a wonderful variety of wholesome products. Ontario produces wheat, oats, and buckwheat in fine form. No country can better furnish beef, pork, mutton, and fowl of a high order. Any farm in Ontario will produce a wide variety of vegetables in abundance, and also small fruits; and large sections, as has already been shown, will grow as fine apples, peaches, pears, and plums as can be found in the world. All of these products in many sections can be grown upon one and the same farm. Notwithstanding, the farmers generally live upon a diet that is more or less unwholesome. This has arisen in part from the vicious system of selling everything off the farm of first quality that would bring in money, and in part from ​unwholesome and defective methods of preparation. The Ontario farmer lives far too much on salt pork and pastry preparations. Were it not for this he would undoubtedly take a foremost place for robust physical development amongst the rural population of any land. The corrective influences of this abnormal state of things are already at work, and will, it is hoped, soon bring about a radical reform in the dietary practices of the farmer.

The agriculture of this Province has been greatly assisted by the various Agricultural Associations operating within it. The oldest association within the Province is the Council of the Agricultural and Arts Association, which for more than forty years held an agricultural and arts exhibition every year. This feature of the work of the Council has been brought to a close for the present. Joint-stock associations hold exhibitions annually in some important centres. The Government has made provision for holding exhibitions annually in every township of the Province where this may be desired by the people, and these are usually held.

We have an association of the breeders representing the Clydesdale and Shire horses, the Shorthorn, Ayrshire, and Holstein breeds of cattle, and the sheep, swine, and poultry industries. The cheese industry is represented by two associations, east and west, and the butter industry by one.

The Bee Keepers' Association of Ontario is leading the world at the present time in the method it has adopted for the eradication of foul brood, and the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association has accomplished a work second only in importance to that achieved by the Cheese Dairy Associations previously referred to. A system of Farmers' Institutes has been established by the Government, whereby the farmers may meet in any electoral district in the Province for the purpose of discussing questions relating to agriculture, and these are addressed periodically by the professors of the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph. This college has a farm of 550 acres attached to it, a large portion of which is devoted to experimental purposes. The sons of farmers who are willing to labour diligently at this college may participate in the benefits which it offers at a very triffing cost, though the expense to young men from other countries is greater.

The agriculture of Ontario invites two classes of immigrants at the present time. The first of these should possess sufficient capital to purchase an Ontario farm of from one to two hundred acres, and the second the ability to labour well with their hands in the capacity of farm servants.

​It would not be prudent, however, for the British capitalist to engage in Ontario farming who was not possessed of a fair share of knowledge regarding agriculture as practised in Great Britain. Lacking this he would not be likely to succeed. The tenant farmer of Britain possessed of sufficient capital to enable him to purchase and stock a farm here would very probably succeed in Ontario farming. But he would not succeed without having due regard to the modifications of method rendered necessary by the differences of climate, and the changed relations as regards labour. The season of growth in Ontario is relatively short as compared with the corresponding period of growth in Britain. Labour has to be performed therefore with much energy, and the aid of the most perfected labour-saving machines must needs be called in. The class of tenant farmers from Great Britain who will succeed best as farmers in this country are those whose predilections lead them into stock-keeping, for we have already shown that the agriculture of Ontario in the future will consist very largely of the production of live stock and the products of the same. The amount of capital required to purchase a farm of the dimensions indicated would be from $10,000 to $15,000, and to stock the farm and equip it with implements of tillage would take about $2000 or $3000.

The system of renting or leasing farms in Ontario has never become popular, and is not practised to a very great extent. This is owing to the fact that usually the farmer is the proprietor. Lessing is, however, becoming more frequent during recent years, so that where a tenant has proved his efficiency he has little difficulty in obtaining a farm to lease.

The rental paid is from $3.00 to $4.00 per acre per year, much depending upon soil and locality. Long leases are seldom given in this country, and the tenant is not usually hampered to any great extent by the terms of the lease. In instances not a few, persons who began by leasing farms have ended by becoming the proprietors.

The efficient farm labourer can always find employment in Ontario when once he has proved his efficiency, so that the capable farm hand coming from Britain, indeed from any other country, need have no misgivings in regard to getting regular work when once he has proved his ability. The difficulty encountered at the first may be overcome by working cheaply for a time. The average wages paid to a farm hand per annum from 1882 to 1888, without board, was $254, and with board $163. The demand for efficient farm labourers in Ontario is always in excess of the supply. Those most in demand from foreign countries are such as are competent to feed and care for live stock.

The demand for domestic servants on the farm has never yet been met. The hours of labour for this class are no doubt long, but the domestic enjoys many of the privileges of the household oftentimes not accorded to such in other homes. The average wages paid per month, ​with board, was $6.28 during the year 1888. Immigrants of this class, furnished with credentials as to character, can at all times find ready employment in farmhouses.

The trade relations of Ontario are not satisfactory to a majority of the farmers. A large number of them desire to have closer trade relations with the people of the United States. They look upon that country as the natural market for a large proportion of their products. That this view is the correct one is clearly apparent from the extensive trade which they have carried on with the United States during recent years in the face of a high tariff.

The agricultural exports to the United States and Great Britain respectively from the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec combined, for the fiscal year ending 30th June 1890, are given in the official returns as follows:—

As the greater portion of the above produce went from Ontario, we thus see that, in the face of a duty averaging over 20 per cent, the Province of Ontario has sent at least three-fourths as much agricultural produce to the United States as to Great Britain during the year referred to. This trade has been carried on in products all of which are grown in the United States, and in most of which that country is a very great exporter.

These facts and figures demonstrate very forcibly, first, the high character relatively of Ontario farming, and secondly, the overwhelming advantages of contiguity in trade. There is no saying what this trade in agricultural products between Ontario and the United States might not have been had there been no tariff restrictions to meet. We are furnished an excellent example of this in the development of the egg trade. On 1st January 1871 the duty of 10 per cent on eggs going into the United States was removed. During the half-year preceding this period the value of the eggs imported into the United States from all countries was not more than 85,403. In 1883 the import of eggs by that country from Canada (and most of them came from Ontario) amounted to 14,683,061 dozens, and the price paid for them to $2,584,279. A large majority of the farmers therefore are impatient of the barriers in the way of their trade with their southern neighbours, and many of them are clamouring to the Government for their removal. What the ultimate effects of failure to attain this end may be it is difficult to forecast. That it will strengthen the desire for ​political union with that people is more than a possibility. In the meantime the effects of these restrictions upon our agriculture are depressing, and this depression has shown itself in various ways; but in none so strikingly as in its effects upon emigration from Canada to the United States, By the United States census returns we learn that in 1860 the number of Canadians in that country was 249,970. In 1880 the number was 717,157; and although we cannot give the numbers from the census returns for 1890, it cannot be less than 1,000,000 at the present time. Add to this the natural increase of our people there, and we would probably find not less than two millions of the people of that country emigrants from this Dominion, or their descendants. A large majority of these went from Ontario.

To say that the restrictions on trade were the sole cause of this exodus would not be correct, but they are no doubt a prime cause, and the constant drain upon the enterprising class of our young men from the source indicated furnishes cause for great regret.

Ontario Agricultural College,
22d October 1890.