The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-07-28, Page 321 L•
PAGE 18A--GQDERIC#•i SIGNAL -STAR. THURSDAY ,T1t1.Y 2R 1977
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ne toot in
furrow' "rod,
Travelling by armchair is about as exciting as a peony
tea. At best, the reader gets his kicks vicariously. At
worst, it is a boring monologue by the writer or the nar-
rator.
Which is the reason that any travelling done by this
reporter is rarely included in this column. A few months
ago, I used a trip to northern Quebec to vent my feelings
about separation, one of the rare exceptions to my rule.
Another exception this week. 1 had the privilege a few
weeks ago of visiting the American Newspaper Publishers
Association research institute show in Los Angeles. The
flight from Toronto to L.A. again impressed me with the
need to retain as much agricultural land as possible in
this country for future generations
We-- tend to look at the broad Canadian expanse of
land as a limitless resource. I'm sure Americans feel
much the same. But after the mid -western plains comes
mile after mile of parched. desert. land. Now and again.
a circle of green can be seen, like quarters from the
air, where some irrigation is available, __
I am aware that much has been done, to preserve
farmland in Ontario. especially the recent green paper
announced by Bill Newman, minister of.. agriculture and
food. It is to be hoped that this paper will give his
department some clout when it comes to allowing some
of the best agricultural land in Canada to go 'under the
developers' hammers.
Less than six per, cent of this huge land mass known as
Canada is suitable for agriculture. That's six acres in
every hundred, Some of the best land of that six per cent
is right here in southern Ontario. It is the best because
it is diversified. Many different crops- can be' grown
which is all the more reason some definite curbs are
needed.
Land covered by tickay-tacky houses, super high-
ways, power corridors and shopping plazas can never
FARM CLASSIFIED SECTION
A. For sale
OAT STRAW by the bale.,
Highway 21, north of
Bayfield. Phone 565-5293. —30
B. Custom work
CUSTOM swathing. Phone
Henry Reinink, 523-9202 or
482-9948. —30-31-32
E. Farm services
NOTICE to Farmers - C & C
Trucking, Dungannon, now
have trucks and equipment to
handle grain to elevators.
Gravel of all kinds available.
Tuesday and Wedne"slay of
each week cattle are shipped
to United Cooperatives.
Toronto. Phone 529-7796. —29-
30-31-32x
Hose and Fittings
Suction, drain, spray,
hydraulic
Quick Couplers
Pumps for every need
Transfer pumps, sewage pum-
ps, water pumps, specialty
pumps.
apps'
EPPS
Sales & Service
HWY. 8 EAST
CLINTON
482-3418
CLAY —
Silo Unloaders
Feeders
Cleaners
Stabling
Leg Elevators
Liquid Manure Equipment
Hog Equipment
BUTLER — "
Silo Unloaders
Feeders
Conveyors
FARMATIC —
Mills
Augers, etc.
ACORN —
Cleaners
Heated Waterers
ZERO
Bulk Tanks
Pipeline & ,Parlour
Equipment
WESTEEL-ROSCO
...Granaries
B & L - Hog Panelling
• LOWRY FARM SYS 1 EMS
RR'1, Kincardine, Ontario
Phone 39S -52e6
B. Custom work
Letters are appreciated by Bob Trotter. Eldale Rd Elmira. OM N38 2C7
be recovered. Perhaps this has been said ad infinitum,
ad nauseum, in this column but it is a fact and must
be constantly stressed.
1 realize 'that. as this country grows, housing is need-
ed People have to live somewhere. New homes must
be built. Factories must he built to create jobs and give
employment But why must those houses and those
factories be built on prime agricultural land so often?
Is it impossible to direct this development to laria which
is unsuitable for agriculture?
It isn't impossible. Good agricultural land is usually ...
reasonably level; therefore it• is easy to service. It
easier to develop, less costly to the developer and, even-
tually, less costly. for the home owner to purchase the
lot
And anyone who has purchased a home in recent
years' would agree that land costs contribute too much
to the exorbitant price of houses today.
But somewhere, sometime, a saw -off is going to
have to come about. This province cannot continue to
use up agricultural land as though tomorrow may
never come. Statistics on how much land has gone out
of production are easy to get bunt it is difficult to figure
out whose statistics are correct. The Ontario Federation
of Agriculture a few years ago estimated it at 35
acres an hour. Yet, provincial government people have
statistics to prove that more land went back into agri-
culture
last year and the year before than was taken
out.,F4t'ho do you believe?
Whatever the facts, Canadians — Ontarions in particu-
lar where the finest of farmland is found — must come to
some conclusions soon and decide where priorities
should be placed.
We simply cannot continue to allow the best farm
land in Canada to disappear forever.
DON'S CUSTOM COM-
BINING — truck and wagon
supplied. Phone Brussels 887-
6666 or Blyth 5'23-4260, —30-31-
1.'-33
CUSTOM Swathing and
combining. Reasonable rates.
Phone 5:'3-4260. —31-32
C. Wanted
WEANER PIGS wanted for
feeder hog operations. Phone
S.R. Buchanan 524-6353 after
seven p.m.—29-30nc
a
Weeds must
be controlled
Farmers in three Ontario
counties will be surveyed this
summer about the weeds
their herbicides miss.
Robert Richards, a
graduate student at the
Ontario Agricultural College,
will interview 180 randomly -
selected farmers in Perth,
Middlesex and tient counties
about weed problems.
"We want to find out which
herbicides are used and
which leave weeds behind."
says Richards. "This will
help determine the ef-
fectiveness of current her-
hicides."
Weed density will be
recorded in all townships
• •
I re
of each county. At least two
fields of corn, soybeans,
white beans, and mixed
grains will be surveyed.
"This Will provide im-
portant , information about
cultivation ,and herbicide use
in these counties," he said.
Current weed problems
reflect the failure of past
week control programs. This
study will help - farmers,
herbicide producers and
researchers develop better
weed control techniques it is
agreed.
The three-part survey will
be conducted until late
August.
e
urns to lasti
red lied: a pioneer peach
;rower f rum Goderich
Township, died in Huronview
'nn lune ' .i, I`i Galter a
ir,ngthy illness. His grand-
daughter. Evelyn. Ilell,
daugister, of- Mr, and Mrs.
rnnl'd 11 ell of 4149``°'s' t till r4t�it' ":
Ac rote the following account of
iv, life in memory of him.
"Grandpa had been a trait
grower from 1944, until his
retirement in .972, When he
first suggested growing
peaches in 1944 to the Ontario
Departi'nent of Agriculture,
he was advised to quit before
he started. But grandpa being
as determined as he was,
went ahead even though it
meant the chance of failure.
He took the gamble and
planted :'4 trees. He chose the
varieties to plant by the
names that he liked.
He was bound and deter-
mined that he was going to
prove some people wrong, so
he took to reading pamphlets
and books from the local
library. Guelph Agricultural
College also sent information
on their culture, spraying,
planting, pruning, and fer-
tilizer requirements.
Spring came and his 24
treses had survived, so later
that spring he planted 200
more trees. His first year had
taught him that he would
have to take some protection
against mice and rabbits. He
put old tin cans around the
bottoms of the trees to protect
Winter
help
offered
The Ministry of Natural
Resources again this year
will be operating a Winter
Trails Program, to assist
snowmobile and cross-
country ski clubs in grooming
and maintaining their
existing trails.
Assistance will be in the...
form of equipment. To -be
eligible for assistance a club
must have at least ten
registered members, carry a
minimum of $100,000. public
liability insurance, have
signed agreements for the
land over which the trails
pass, and allow the general
public free access to their
trails.
If your club is interested in
'receiving assistance, please
contact the Ministry of
Natural Resources, at RR 5,
Wingham, Ontario, NOG 2W0
- 35 -3131
them from mice and tied
pieces of tin foil to the trees to
scare the rabbits away.
The following ,year he
planted . 500 more trees
making a total of some 700
odcf trees. The fitst_tree,s,,he..
Aiatl
:�. pLein . ,. "we . now tar-
�e�ti e
ting to produce.
Hearing" oT Mr: 13ell's
success, some specialists
from Guelph were sent to
take some tests on the soil
and it was found to be a good
area for growing fruit.
Today the original farm has
been taken -over by his oldest
son Arnold, and two younger
sons, Art and .Gerald, have
started farms on both sides of
the original. Among the three
farms there is said to be 7,000
fruit trees taking in ,peaches,
pears, grapes, plums,
apricots and apples.
What started out to be a
determined man's whim
ended by making a way of
living for about ten farmers
between . Goderich and
Bayfield alone.
Before grandpa went into
fruit farming, he was a
masonry contractor with his
two brothers Charlie and
Ernie. He had laid ap-
proicirreately four miles of
sidewalk in Goderich and
built silos and bridges. In
Northern Ontario, some of his
bridges are still in _ use.
Grandpa was also a veteran
of the first world war.
He and his first wife, Mae
Eliza Carnahan had twelve
children, six boys and ' six
girls. His wife died in 1949 but
he was remarried in 1953 to
Mearl J. Parker who had five
children. He also had 48
grandchildren and 11 great-
grandchildren."
CLINTON'S ANNUAL
s
twitches but they also grow
apiri'eots apples and pears.
,ellview farm is the only
Mare in the Immediate area
grow apricots. last year's'
;Apricot crop ,was snowed out;
A7ra..J ell said this vea.r's
krnold (tell. owner of
;ellview fruit farm. RR
,oder'ich said in an interview
-recently that he -hopes to have
me of the biggest fruit crops
ver this year with the proper
amount of rainfall. He figures
1;ot there must be a warm air.
nocket in the area for growing
trait and terms it "pretty
lucky since fruit crops in
- eamington have been frozen
tat already this,
year. Mr.
',ell his wife and three
slaughters:, Evelyn. Lee 'Van
.And ‘tisan make their living,
irnm fruit. The main crop is
44 ~ft
EDWARD FUELS LTD.
crop should'be good i
i,► 1 ► people' =are hired
with the picking; pack
tiiiijping <gf fruit. l
s;tid,
ve"it ,waswhen allno slots@a.
d,iil t tt
¢tui t{in financially
1pa
cec
a
rhe late Fred Bell, a pioneer fruit grower fron;r=Gc
township started growing fruit in the area On a;.
mined man's whim and ended by making a way of'
for about ten farmers between Goderich and, Ba
alone. He is pictured here with his wife Mearl in I975,.
WATER
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• FARM • SUBURBAN • INDUSTRIAL • MUNICIPAL •
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• GUARANTEED WELLS
• FAST MODERN EQUIPMENT
• 4 ROTARY & ,PERCUSSION DRILLS
"OUR EXPERIENCE ASSURES :
LOWER COST WATER WELLS"
DAVIDSON4 RotaryRHONE-357:196( and- Percusslo
WELL DRILLING LIMITED WINGHAM
Collect Calls Accep
. "ONTARIO'S FINEST WATER WELLS SINCE 19
IS PLEASED TO INTRODUCE
LARRY WHITE, OUR NEW FULL TIME
FURNACE SERVICEMAN
r
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Three Big Days
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
JULY 28,..29, 3
l
Items, Counters, Clerks on the Sidewalk
• FANTASTICTBARGAiNS
•' FEATURE ITEMS
• TERRIFIC SAVINGS
Don't Miss this Super Sale Event of the Year!
"HAVE A PEACH OF A DAY"
CLINTON MERCHANTS "PEACH FESTIVAL"
Stop by our booth and have Peach shortcake,
watermelon for the children.
Open for the season
Every Saturday, 6:30 a.m. - Noon
Clinton,
rmers
Larry, his wife Pat and their three children have moved
from Wiarton to their new home at 154 Trafalgar St,
Goderich.
With 13 years of furnace experience, Larry can clean
service your 'furnace to ensure peak performance and also
provide 24 Hr. Emergency Service.
At Edward Fuels we have 3 service plans
We are mailing a service Brochure to all our custome
shortly. If you are not on our list, call us today!
e you t.
Sponeorsid by Clinton Business Assoctpflon
e.
• MELS • LUI1111CANTS • AGRICULTURAL-& INDUS'T`RIAL CHEMICALS • COAL