FOREWORD 



In a country famous for her vast wheat fields 

 and whose chief industry is — and must continue 

 to be for many years — agriculture, the need of a 

 standard work on this important subject by a com- 

 petent writer is apparent. Of the few Canadian 

 writers with a practical knowledge of farming in 

 Canada, who havx attempted to blaze the trail for 

 the newcomer or help the old settler with advice 

 bom of long personal experience, none occupy such 

 a pre-eminent position as William Rennie. 



Unusually successful in all departments of agri- 

 culture and with the gift of imparting information 

 on the most prosaic subject in a fascinating manner, 

 his personality was a potent factor in the elevation 

 of farm work to the science of agriculture. By pre- 

 cept and example he enriched farm life in this 

 country-, and did much to lift it from the deadly 

 routine which was rapidly depleting the rural popu- 

 lation of its young life. 



The author came into national prominence by 

 winning the first Silver Medal presented by the 

 Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario for 

 the cleanest and best-managed farm in the province, 

 while his brother, the late Simpson Rennie, who 

 occupied the Rennie homestead in Scarboro (Ont.), 

 won the Gold Medal. 



At a critical period in the history of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, Wm. Rennie was requested by 

 the Hon. John Dryden, then Minister of Agricul- 



