The Rural Voice, 1978-12, Page 17Implements,
party lines,
landscape
Farm
history
atUofG
"When tillage begins, other arts follow.
The farmers therefore are the founders
of human civilization."
(On Agriculture Daniel Webster)
By Sheila Gunby
At the third annual symposium on
Agriculture History held recently at the
University of Guelph, professional and
amateur historians, teachers and farmers
gathered to hear various speakers review
rural history in southern Ontario.
The idea for these seminars originally
came from Prof. Ross Irwin, School of
Engineering, Univ. of Guelph who in-
stigated the first seminar in 1976. Through
his efforts, the College of Arts, the Ontario
Agriculture College and the office of
Continuing Education, made a co-operative
effort to plan the seminars.
FARM IMPLEMENTS
This year's program began with an
outline of changes in farm machinery from
1850 to 1900, presented by Allan Skeoch,
Science Department, Parkdale Collegiate
Institute. He men tioned an amazing figure
at the outset --there were a total of 294
implement manufacturers in southern
Ontario in 1854.
There was spirited competition among
these manufacturers. Most had complete
lines ot farm equipment - one actually had
17 different kinds of plows. But there was
usually a lack of specialization which
inhibited invention and they were depend-
ent on American patents. Each manu-
facturer supplied machinery for a radius of
approximately 25 miles.
There was a definite British influence in
the way the machinery was made - efficient
but heavy and bulky. and made of cast
iron.
The U.S. stressed machinery mainly
made out ot wood. One U.S. model of plow
a similar British plow
weighed 40 lbs.;
weighed 250 lbs.
Once the railway network opened up the
area there was an increase of branch plants
from the U.S. Around 1856, the Massey
Company was established. Brantford
became an important centre for wagons
and fanning mills. In 1871, the Harris
Company settled there. There were many
other companies around that time - names
like Sawyer, Maxwell, Wisnor, Hall, Abell,
Frost and Wood, Bell, McCormick, Fleury,
Watson and Lawrence.
Locally, Robert Irwin, Dungannon, has a
skimming plow made by Thomas Lawrence
that was patented in 1875. It was built in a
small foundry in Lucknow that operated for
two years.
REMEMBER THOSE PARTY LINES?
A delightful session on the rural tele-
phone was presented by V.B.M. Flynn,
retired chairman of the Ontario Telephone
Service Commission. When the telephone
THE
Rural roadside landscape, with the trees
bordering both sides of the road.
first came into prominence, he said, it was
felt that it "wouldn't amount to much."
Territorial disputes among the many
small companies resulted in somtimes two
sets of pole lines on one road. Trees, as
well as poles were used to carry the lines.
Mr. Flynn mentioned some amusing
anecdotes, on telephones including the farm
wife who would "put on a clean apron just
to answer the telephone" or "hang
camphor on the telephone when someone
on the line had scarlet fever."
Some people even had a wooden
"wedge" in the receiver switch so they
could "listen on the line" without starting
the battery and no one could hear the clock
striking or the baby crying.
And times haven't changed that much. A
1910 report said that the telephone
"rendered escape impossible."
CHANGING RURAL LANDSCAPE
Owen Scott, Univ. of Guelph, gave a
fascinating account of landscape planning
of rural Ontario. He said that lots and
concessions were laid out before settle-
ment.
The idea of a "grid" effect, a textbook
theory, was brought over from England as
a method of planning the landscape; each
lot was formed in a rectilinear pattern,
even though this was not practised in
Britain at that time.
Waterloo is one coupty that does not
have the usual "grid" pattern, as it was
settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch. They
[cont. on Page 35]
RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1978 PG. 17