AGRICULTURAL WORK IN ONTARIO 5 



catering on its twenty-fifth year. Taking both of these movements 

 ir.to consideration, the wonder is that the agricultural population 

 hfcs stood the strain as well as it has. Looking over such statistics 

 as are available and studying a number of districts personally as I 

 have been able to do during the past few years, I have come to the 

 conclusion that agriculture in Ontario has entered upon an upward 

 movement that is already making itself felt. Rural population 

 showed a steady increase from Confederation in 1867 to 1886, when 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway was opened. From that year the 

 decrease was just as marked down to 1906. Now we are on the up- 

 grade again, though the increase as yet is not very great. In addi- 

 tion, there is a decided increase in the total farm values of the prov- 

 ince ind the total values of farm products also are showing most 

 encouraging increases year by year. 



The Solution- Intensive agriculture and the production of high 

 Intensive grade food are what we are aiming at. Those who 



Faming have studied the problem are aware that it is not an 



easy task. Again and again we are advised of what the well-farmed 

 couitries of Europe are doing and it is well to keep this example 

 before our people but, of course, the conditions are quite different. 

 Then, land is dear and labour is cheap; here, land is cheap anct 

 labour is dear. It becomes, therefore, an interesting and com- 

 plicated problem to work out, with cheap land and dear labour, plans 

 and methods of work that will result in procuring adequate reward 

 for labour and at the same time conserve our soil resources. As 

 far as Oitario is concerned at the present time and with our present 

 style of hrming, it is not so much a question of conserving our soil 

 as conserving our labour. What we are aiming at is to make the 

 labour nov being expended more effective. We have some millions 

 of acres tlat need draining. If drained, they could be worked 

 more easilj and they would produce more abundantly, hence, 

 a campaign for underdrainage is being carried on. We have 

 in Ontario th finest apple growing section of large area on the North 

 American contnent. We have a few thousand trees well cared for, 

 productive of food fruit, but we have (I think I am not putting it 

 extravagantly) millions of trees neglected, uncared for, whose pro- 

 duction is uncertain and more or less unprofitable. We have been 

 demonstrating h the past few years that in the neglected apple 

 orchards we ha\e one of our greatest assets, hence, our orchard 

 demonstration canpaign. We have over one million milch cows 

 on the farms protucing on the average not over 4,000 pounds of 

 milk a year. If 2)0,000 of the unprofitable animals were exter- 

 minated, there woild be a saving of labour, a saving of food, and 



