The Rural Voice, 1978-09, Page 15GRICULTURE,STOCK;DAIRY,POULTRY, ' ORTICULTURE,VETERINARY, HOME CIRCLE.ii
aem$TaarD IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COPYRIGHT ACT OP 1075.
Vol. XXXII.
LONDON, ONTARIO, AND WINNIPEG, MANITOBA.
No. 421
The Advocate had all the answers
By Alice Gibb
For 99 years, from 1866 to 1965, the
Farmers Advocate and Home Magazine,
published in London, Ontario and Win-
nipeg, Manitoba, was one of the major
sources of information for the farmer and
his family.
The magazine's motto was " Persevere
and succeed" and that's just what the
majority of its articles were about -
succeeding in the perilous business of
agriculture.
An 1897 edition of the magazine offers a
glimpse back into the world of agriculture
at the turn of the century - a period when
farmers in the east were considering
migrating to Western Canada, when
Saskatchewan buffalo robes were a big
seller and when steel windmills were the
thing for the up and coming farmer.
The magazine was an authority on
"agriculture. stock, poultry, horticulture,
veterinary (mAicine) and the home circle"
and it featured articles on such items of
interest as the Ontario Bee -Keeper's
convention dehorning cattle (illustrated)
and insects considered injurious to
Canadian farm crops.
Gossip
The gossip section of the magazine - a
section stil) imitated by many farm
publications - had news and notes on the
annual meeting of the Ontario Veterinary
Association, the Lincoln Breeders' annual
meeting and the Smithfield, England
winners at the Fat Stock show.
But one of the real joys of the 1897
publication were the advertisements which
started on the orange cover of the
publication and marketed everything from
prize Hackney stallions to cures for
nervous disorders.
First, there was Epp's Cocoa, the
English breakfast drink which possessed
the following distinctive merits: "delicacy
of flavor and superiority in quality" as well
as being "grateful and comforting to the
nervous or dyspeptic."
For those who didn't enjoy the soothing
properties of a morning cup of cocoa, there
were pressed flowers from the Holy Land -
to be considered - "an exquisite premium
-highly interesting to Sunday School
workers and lovers of flowers."
The only way a subscriber could receive
and assorted with his own hands these
specimens, which he offers to the Christian
world."
But as well as the more frivolous items,
The Farmer's Advocate offered a number
of very practical farming aids.
First, the overworked farmer could write
to Dr. Barnardo's Homes in Toronto, an
organization which looked after English
orphans, about getting a boy to help on the
farm.
Dr. Barnardo's Homes, which were
Full Circle .Steel Hay Press.
1UR Press has an extremely large feed opening, rendering feeding easy and souring rapid
, work. It is a full circle machine; that is, the horses walk round in a full circle continu-
oualy, fatiguing the horses much less than the hal( circle machines Write for cata-
logue and prices.
Manufactured by
Matthew
Moody aid
Sons,
Terrebonne,
Que.�
Western coee.I ANenW. '
Fatale of T. T. COLEMAN.
sesGn4L. tit.
the flowers was to persuade someone else
to buy : subscription to the Advocate.
Itis town Hands
The notice assured subscribers the
flowers were "gathered and pressed in
Palestine, by Rev. Harvey B. Greene,
together with a description of each and
Scripture references. Mr. Green has
frequently visited Palestine, and gathered
sending out several parties of boys in the
coming season, guaranteed that "all the
young immigrants will have passed
through a period of training in the English
Homes, and will be carefully selected with
a view to their moral and physical
suitability to Canadian life."
Although it would be comforting to
assume most of the English boys found a
THE RURAL VOICE/SEPTEMBER 1978 PG. 15