128 RURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



hausting forms of labor, it is monotonous, save for the 

 turn of the seasons, and it is often solitary. Even its 

 advanced forms often confine the solitary workman to 

 the ceaseless round of tasks in the barn throughout the 

 day and the week. For in many cases the new equip- 

 ment and the specialized lines were adopted with regard 

 paid to the output alone, and not to the effect upon the 

 agent. 



The conditions of toil are often unnecessarily hard. 

 Labor-saving devices in the home are sometimes scantily 

 provided, while those for barn and field are ample. 

 " Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want 

 of heart." Let us glance at a single illustration — the 

 supply of water in the house. The Agricultural Survey 

 of 1910 found that in Prince Edward Island ninety- 

 seven per cent, of the farm houses obtain water from 

 wells outside the house. All carry the water by hand. 

 In Nova Scotia only two per cent, of the farm houses 

 have water piped to the house. In New Brunswick 

 ninety-five per cent, obtain water from wells and springs. 

 In English-speaking Quebec ninety-two per cent, carry 

 water by hand. These conditions are general. This 

 lack is due perhaps chiefly to the fact that the equip- 

 ment introduced so liberally out-of-doors is not re- 

 garded as labor-saving by the man who has no 

 dread of toil, but rather as a means of adding to the 

 efiiciency of his labor and thus multiplying his output. 

 But the wife suffers nevertheless, and the daughters 

 leave. The household science courses offered by the 

 agricultural colleges point the way to a solution. 

 With wider knowledge of the possibilities of achieve- 

 ment through fuller equipment the daughters of the 

 farm will vie with their brothers in advance. 



Conditions of toil in the fields also are unnecessarily 



