The Rural Voice, 1988-11, Page 34We're in
BUSINESS
to keep you
WORKING
• Chisel Plow Points
• Mould Board
• Concaves
• Shins
• Landsides
• Feeder Chain
• Coulter Blades
• Raddle Chain
• Grill Guards
• Roller Chain
• Gathering Chain
• Cylinder Bars
• Plow Points
• Grade 8 Fine
Thread Bolts
• Grade 5 Coarse
Thread Bolts
• Cultivator Points
• Disc Blades
• Hand Tools
• Shop Tools
Hugh Parsons
BOLTS & TOOLS LTD.
11/4 miles east of Hensall
519-263-5681
PRESSURE WASHER
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Propane Fired Oil Fired
Energy Efficient
Cleaning Machines
Ontario Pork Industry
Improvement Plan Approved
For FREE Demonstration, Call:
RON
STEMMLER
R.R.1, Elmira, Ontario N3B 2Z1
519-669-2150
32 THE RURAL VOICE
VOICE FROM
THE PAST
It's often been said: "The more thing's change, the more they stay the same." But
farm life has certainly undergone dramatic and irreversible changes. Writer Wayne
Kelly provides evidence for both views: one, the changes in farming and rural life have
been so thorough that the past seems quaint; two, "modem" problems really aren't
so modern after all. Either way, the "voices from the past" haven't lost their relevance.
L
ike many other profession-
als, farmers are subject to
frequent anxieties and
pressures. Too much rain and drought
and too many battles with weeds, poor
prices, and unsympathetic bankers can
make the job tedious and unrewarding.
Editor William Weld appreciated
from personal experience that such
difficulties would sometimes get the
better of Ontario farmers. Month after
month in the pages of The Farmer's
Advocate, Weld encouraged optimism
and a solid work ethic. In the follow-
ing editorial from 1904 he took a hard
line.
November market prices from 101
years ago are also presented. How
things have changed — yet how much
more they need to change to be in line
with the increases in other products
and wage hikes over the past century.
June 23, 1904:
THE DISCONTENTED FARMER
Everyone is familiar with the farm-
er who is dissatisfied with his lot and
constantly excusing his failures or un-
progressive methods by the statement
that he was not "cut out" for a farmer.
That there are men living on farms
who are not naturally qualified to
make good farmers cannot be denied,
but that a lack of natural endowments
should be so generally offered as an
apology for unprogressiveness, due
largely to a lack of enthusiasm and a
knowledge of the principles of farm-
ing, is scarcely excusable.
The man who is compelled by
force of circumstances to continue
farming, or any other vocation, against
his natural inclinations, or who is
physically or mentally unfit for the
work of managing a farm, is deserving
of commiseration. But there is a large
class who do not make the success
they should of their business simply
because they will not avail themselves
of their opportunities or are concerned
with almost every other affair in the
country and out of it to the exclusion
of their first duties.
... Few farm conditions are more
unsatisfactory than that of struggling
on from year to year, hoping that some
economic upheaval may land one high
and dry on the road to success by
some other route than that of the
application of brain and brawn to the
PRICES AT FARMERS' WAGONS - Toronto, November 2, 1887
Wheat, fall, per bushel
Wheat, red winter, per bushel
Wheat, spring, per bushel
Barley, per bushel
Oats, per bushel
Dressed hogs, per 100 lbs.
Chickens, per pair
Butter, pound rolls
Eggs, fresh, per dozen
Potatoes, per bag
Apples, per barrel
Tomatoes, per bushel
Hay, per ton
Straw, per ton
low high
$ .78 .80
.78 .79
.78 .79
.60 .78 1/2
.38 .39
5.75 6.00
.40 .55
.22 .25
.20 .21
.90 1.00
1.25 1.75
.75 1.00
12.00 17.00
8.00 13.00