188 Old Bays on the Farm 



the merits of ploughs, exhibitions of the actual 

 working of this oldest of all agricultural imple- 

 ments were given in the fair grounds, or in a field 

 nearby. There was keen rivalry among the 

 ploughmakers in those days. There were few, if 

 any, plough factories then, and the iron ploughs 

 everywhere in use, in that period, were the prod- 

 uct of blacksmiths, the moulds being imported 

 from Old Scotland. Thomas Yeandle, formerly of 

 Stratford, Ontario, now an old man who lives at 

 Birtle, Manitoba, was a famous ploughmaker 

 nearly half a century ago. There is yet to be seen 

 in an Ontario farmer's implement shed the fine 

 iron plough which Yeandle exhibited at the Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition in 76 and for which he was 

 awarded a medal and First Prize. That beauti- 

 fully-fashioned implement was made on the anvil 

 and all the product of his own handiwork, except 

 the mould-board. At Fall Fairs, county and town- 

 ship ploughing matches, the merits of ploughs 

 were the chief topics of discussion. It is a rare 

 sight to even see a plough at a Fair in these days. 

 Factory production has destroyed individuality 

 in the furrow-turning implement. 



THE TOPPED-BOOT AGE 



Looking into the misty mirror of the past there 

 is really not much difference between the Fall Fair 

 of half a century ago and the modem country fall 

 fair. There were, of course, no boss trots then, 



