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The Rural Voice, 1983-05, Page 45STRIKING BACK Growing crops in 1881 by Detonator Dan In 1881, winter wheat averaged 20 bushels per acre and spring wheat 12 bushels per acre. And that on generally virgin soil! The wheats were grown on a variety of soils, from black muck to heavy clay, with many different tillage prac- tices. An `Essex county farmer provided the Commission with the following com- ment. "The land is so rich that we just keep on cropping away and we all get good yields" (well! well! Ontario farmers are still cropping away. I wonder if the farmers of the 1870's practiced a very special type of tillage that todays farmers are very adept at — recreational til- lage!!). The cost of growing wheat averaged about $12.00 per acre with a return of 95c per bushel. According to Mr. Drury, wheat did much better when sheltered by forest. At the same time, farmers wished to drain land and were prepared to pay 10 per cent interest on borrowed money for drainage (have we come the full circle?). Mr. White of Charing Cross suggested to the Commission, in 1881, that if wheat did not come through the winter, it was because there are no forests left in Kent County to retain the snow and shelter the plant (one hundred years later, Kent County is still trying to grow trees). Some of the wheat varieties grown in the 1870's were Fife, White Flint and Hut- chinson -Clawson. Barley was grown, with the costs about the same as wheat. Twenty-five to thirty bushels was an average yield, at 70c per bushel. Much of the barley was used for malting. Many farmers reported to the Commission that barley was a more soil exhausting plant than wheat. The average yield of oats was 33 bushels per acre at 35c per bushel. Black Main and White Australia were two oat varieties. The pea crop was very popular with Ontario farmers, unless interrupted by the pea weevil. The crop generally yielded 18 bushels per acre at 55c per bushel. Second Early and Golden Vine were two pea varieties. The pea weevil apparently lead to the demise of the Ontario crop (I have been told, that at one time, the dry pea crop acreage was so large in the Bruce Peninsula, that "unit trains" transported the crop south from Wiarton). Indian corn was cultivated in different parts of the province, with costs per acre of $15.00, yields of 50 bushels and returns at 55c per bushel. Corn was planted in hills, about four feet apart with three stalks per hill. A man with a hand planter could do four acres per day, and with horses, about 12 acres per day (I wonder if the farmers of 1881 would scuffle or cultivate for weed control?). The most popular varieties were Large Yellow, White Gourd and Flin. These types all had eight rows of kernels. Corn was cut by hand and bound at the top by elm bark. The corn was later husked by hand and stored in cribs for future delivery to the distillers. To obtain the bark, a notch was cut into an elm tree at the base and then a horse was hitched to the bark and it was peeled off. A man, a boy, and a good horse could peel enough bark in one day to tie the corn from forty acres. Mr. Le Duc had been involved with a number of experiments to determine the amount of sugar available from the corn plant. He suggested that 900 to 1000 pounds of sugar was available per acre and that Ontario should have a manu- facturing complex capable of refining sugar from corn to sweeten the tea and coffee of Canadian people (100 years later we do have a corn sweetener plant, and do you know where the bulk of the corn is grown that is used in that plant?). Next month, we will share the Com- mission's information on weeds and manure. Detonator Dan [a pseudonym as you may have guessed] is a practising farmer in the boondocks of Colborne Township, Huron County. PUREBRED YORKSHIRES & LANDRACE Bred gilts Boars R.O.P. Tested ' t=� MAITLAND MANOR FARM Bluevale, Ontario 335-3240 335-3768 Don Henry Bob Richardson Need good farm help? Why not contact the Canada Farm Labour Pool office in your area for qualified help during the busy season Walkerton 881-3671 Owen Sound 371-9522 14, Canada Farm Labour Pools Where Hopper goes, the water flows • PROMPT RELIABLE SERVICE • FREE ESTIMATES • 5 MODERN ROTARY RIGS CaII Collect Neil 527-1737 James 527-0775 Durl 527-0828 W.D. HOPPER & SONS Water Well Drilling SINCE 1915 R.R. 2 Seaforth Members of the Ontario Water Well Assoc. THE RURAL VOICE, MAY 1983 PG. 43