The Rural Voice, 1990-09, Page 38// B. J. BEAR
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34 THE RURAL VOICE
BILL STEWART'S
RURAL LIFETIME
A book review by Sheila Gunby
"A lifetime of rural living ... and
happenings, often exciting, occasion-
ally humorous, sometimes hazardous,
but always interesting."
This is what prompted William
A. (Bill) Stewart, Ontario Minister of
Agriculture and Food from 1961 to
1975, to recall and record more than a
half -century of his agricultural exper-
iences and at the same time the history
of farming in Ontario.
The result is Rural Roots and
Beyond, a book dedicated to Stewart's
daughters, who encouraged their fath-
er to undertake the project. Though
he never kept a diary, Stewart, with
the help of several scrapbooks of news
clippings, boxes of private letters, and
Hansard volumes, was able to sum-
mon up several decades of dynamic
rural events.
Many programs and forums were
implemented in Stewart's time as ag-
riculture minister. Among them were
the Agricultural Research Institute of
Ontario, the Ontario Food Council, the
Ontario Farm Machinery Board, the
Ontario Crop Insurance Act, the On-
tario Meat Inspection Act, the ARDA
program, the Industrial Milk Pro-
duction Incentive Program, the Beef
Cow -Calf Income Stabilization Pro-
gram, The Milk Act, and the Ontario
Milk Marketing Board.
In Rural Roots and Beyond,
Stewart chronicles his boyhood in a
one -room schoolhouse in Middlesex
County, his involvement with Junior
Farmers, and his days as a young
farmer in the depression years.
He also recalls breaking new
land "that had never seen a plough,"
initially using a cross -cut saw to fell
the hawthorn trees. To smooth out the
hummocks and hollows, Stewart says
his father "suggested we hitch a team
on each end of a barn timber, then
pull it cross -wise over the field. Jack
(Laye) and I stood on each end to
drive our team." The local roving
reporter took a photograph of the
scene for the London Free Press.
In the late '60s, Stewart was once
again clearing land, this time where
Dutch Elm disease had taken its toll.
But then he used a chainsaw and a
bulldozer.
"The Stewarts pioneered by every
method in clearing and breaking virgin
land from the ax to the bulldozer," he
writes.
The history of an Ontario rural
community is presented as well: Farm
Radio Forum, the importance of the
schools and churches, building roads
and pipelines, tornados, crop insur-
ance, plowing matches, and — of
course — politics.
"Looking back over my lifetime,"
Stewart says, "the one consistent
aspect is continuous change."
It was a privilege, he adds, to have
played a part in the establishment of
the University of Guelph, Centralia
College, the New Liskeard Agricul-
tural College, and the Ontario Agri-
cultural Museum.
Rural Roots and Beyond is
available in soft cover at $14.95 from
the Oxford Book Store, London or
Stratford, or by sending a cheque
made out to Rural Roots and Beyond
for $14.95 (plus $3.50 for postage and
handling) to The Rural Voice, Box 37,
Godcrich, Ontario, N7A 3Y5.0