Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.1967, Síða 5

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 1. JÚNÍ 1967
>
S
provements were due to the
genius of the Massey and the
Harris’ families in Ontario. In
1867, the year of Confedera-
tion, the Massey firm won the
gold medal at the Paris Ex-
position for its reaper. In 1884,
the Canadian Pacific railway
was carrying the Harris rea-
pers to the end of its line near
Regina whence they were
transported as far north as
Prince Albert. The invention
of the twine-knotter in the
United States about 1880 pav-
ed the way for the develop-
ment of the self-binder which
came on the market a few
years later. Early versions of
the threshing machine, which
had been produced in Eng-
land by 1790, were greatly im-
proved in the last decade of
the nineteenth century.
Through these and other
improvements in farm ma-
chinery it was possible, by
about 1890, for a small farm
population to harvest a rela-
tively large crop of grain.
Some idea of the effectiveness
of these labor-saving devices
may be gained from the num-
ber of man hours required for
harvesting and threshing one
acre of wheat in 1829, when
the grain had to be cut with a
sickle, bound, shocked, flailed,
winnowed and sacked, and
1896, when it was cut with a
binder, shocked and threshed
with a threshing machine. In
1829, the time required was
estimated at 46 hours; in 1896,
three hours. Later develop-
ments, which resulted in the
production of the combine,
have reduced this to less than
one hour.
Socially, these and other
labor-saving devices have ex-
erted a tremendous effect.
With every decade that pas-
ses, less manpower is needed
to produce a thousand bushels
of grain. The result has been a
steady reduction of the farm
population. The villages and
small towns have grown smal-
ler, the large towns and cities
larger. But the total effect is
doubtless an increase of the
wealth of the country as a
whole.
When the first Canadian
Pacific railway train traversed
Western Canada from Winni-
peg to Vancouver in the first
week of July, 1886 there was
already a narrow strip of
settlement on both sides of
the railway, extending from
Winnipeg to Calgary; for the
settlers had pushed ahead of
the railway to break up the
virgin prairie and plant their
fields of wheat, oats and bar-
ley. The story of the early
settlers is too often chiefly
the story of their hardships,
difficulties and disappoint-
ments; but it is also a story of
achievement. Western wheat
production in 1881 was about
one million bushels; in 1890
it was 16 million; in 1901, 62
million. For grain storage, flat
warehouses preceded eleva-
tors. The first standard,
square elevator was built at
Gretna, Manitoba in 1881. In
1890 there were 103 ware-
houses and 90 elevators in
Manitoba and the Northwest
Territories.
The difficulties, and even
disasters, of the settlers were
many. Unfortunately, many of
the years that saw the major
influx of settlers were years
of drought: 1883 — drought
and frost; 1885 — drought in
the open plains area; 1886 —
drought everywhere; 1887 —
drought in Alberta; 1889 —
drought and frost. But pro-
gress was made despite dis-
couragement that caused
many to leave the country.
One of the main difficulties
was lack of advice on farming
procedures. Each farmer
brought with him the methods
of farming to which he was
accustomed in his place of
origin; but these methods were
not always the best in the
region of his settlement. For-
tunately, the need for expert
advice had been foreseen by
the Canadian government
which, in 1888, established the
Experimental Farms system
which immediately provided
the West with two experi-
mental stations, one at Bran-
don and another at Indian
Head. Two able and dedicated
men were appointed as super-
intendents, S. A. Bedford at
Brandon and Angus Mackay
at Indian Head. The latter has
been credited with the intro-
duction and popularization of
the practice of summerfallow
which helped to increase yields
in the drought years. The pro-
vision of expert advice to
farmers in these early days
was no easy matter as no one
knew the best remedies for
many of the troubles that
arose. These had often to be
discovered by the slow pro-
cess of experimentation. The
farmers’ lack of knowledge in
the recognition and control of
plant diseases led to the grad-
ual increase of some diseases.
By the end of the eighties the
smut of wheat had increased
so much that British import-
ers were complaining of the
smuttiness of much Canadian
wheat; and there was fear in
official circles of injury to the
reputation of our wheat. The
education of the farmers in the
control of smut diseases was
one of S. A. Bedford’s early
contributions.
One of the great contribu-
tions of the Experimental
Farms was wheat variety im-
provement. Red Fife, the most
widely grown variety, matur-
ed so late that it was often
injured by frost. An impor-
tant event was the production
of the earlier maturing varie-
ty Marquis by Dr. Charles E.
Saunders by hybridization.
Marquis resulted from cross-
ing Red Fife with an early
maturing wheat from India.
Marquis had the fine milling
and baking quality of Red
Fife and, maturing about a
week earlier, it often escaped
fall frosts. Above all, its high
yield and adaptability to many
differents soils and climates
ensured its rapid distribution
throughout Canada and the
northern United States soon
after its distribution to farm-
ers in 1909.
As the Mississippi Valley
filled up with grain fields the
rusts of wheat and oats be-
came an increasing problem.
From 1891 onwards these
crops began to suffer severe
damage especially in years of
abundant moisture and heavy
stand of grain — the very
years when good yields would
be expected. The losses, more
or less severe in the late nine-
ties and the first years of this
century, culminated in the
great rust epidemic of 1916
which caused an estimated
loss of 100 million bushels of
wheat in Western Canada and
an even greater loss in the
United States. Although it was
not clear how this problem
could be solved, it was obvi-
ously necessary to make a con-
certed effort to apply all
available scientific knowledge
in an attempt to solve it.
Canada’s chief effort consisted
in establishing, in 1925, the
Dominion Rust Research La-
boratory, at Winnipeg, where
a group of newly trained
young scientists were put to
work on the problem. The ef-
forts of this group, and of si-
milar groups of research
workers in the United States,
bore fruit in the production
by hybridization of rust re-
sistant wheats in the mid-
thirties.
Much the same type of solu-
tion was found for one of the
insect problems. The wheat
stem sawfly lays its eggs near
the base of the stem of the
wheat plant. There the larvae
develop and bore through the
stem until the weakened plant
falls over. No bread wheat
varieties were resistant to the
insect but durum wheats with
solid stems were unaffected.
By crossing these with bread
wheats it became possible to
produce varieties of bread
wheat with solid stems. These
varieties resisted the insect
sufficiently to make bread
wheat cultivation again pos-
sible in even the worst saw-
fly infested areas.
The drought years of the
1930’s not only inflicted un-
told hardship on the farm
population but also resulted
in notable changes in agricul-
tural methods. It had long
been the practice to plow the
soil deeply and cultivate so as
to produce a fine mulch on
the surface. This was done on
the assumption that the fine
surface mulch prevented the
loss of moisture through evap-
oration. But in the dry years
the wind blew away the fine
surface soil with the result
that much land in the open
plains suffered excessively
from wind erosion. Agricul-
tural experts realized that til-
lage practices must be
changed. Deep plowing must
be abandoned and replaced by
shallow surface cultivation
that permitted the retention
of roots, stubble and other
fibrous materials in the sur-
face layer of the soil. For-
tunately, the numerous manu-
facturers of tilling imple-
ments rapidly responded with
the devising of a great variety
of implements (disk, blade and
rod cultivators) that permit-
ted the cultivation of the soil
with a minimum of disturb-
ance of the surface layers.
This is doubtless one of the
developments essential to the
maintenance of the future pro-
ductivity of our soils.
The story of Western agri-
culture has been the story of
rapid changes in tillage and
harvesting practices. However
useful these changes, they
nevertheless have often cre-
ated new problems for the
Jarmer. Combine harvesting,
as compared with harvesting
by binder, tends to leave more
weed seeds on the ground,
thereby aggravating the weed
problem. The chemical indus-
try has, however, responded
by the production of various
types of weed killer of which
pome of the newer types give
promise of controlling even
the wild oats that have be-
come a major agricultural
problem in recent years. The
incorporation of stubble and
ptraw in the soil, although
eventually increasing fertili-
ty, tends to make less nitrogen
available to plants during its
decomposition. This is one of
the main factors in inducing
farmers to apply fertihzer,
which is essential in future,
for, no matter how fertile the
soil is initially it cannot forev-
er retain that fertility under
conditions of heavy cropping
without some return of soil
nutrients.
The story of wheat in Can-
ada would be incomplete in-
deed if no mention were made
of the problems of marketing,
a subject requiring a book
rather than a paragraph. Dis-
satisfaction with the market-
ing of wheat by privately
controlled grain companies
induced a cooperative move-
ment among farmers of which
the formation of the Grain
Growers Grain Company, in
1906, and the Alberta Farmers
Cooperative Elevator Com-
pany, in 1913, was an expres-
sion. These were amalgamated
in 1917 to form the United
Grain Growers Limited. This
was the beginning of the co-
operative movement, culmi-
nating in the great ‘wheat
pools’, that made it possible
for the farmers to retain for
themselves some of the pro-
fits of marketing. Perhaps of
even greater importance was
the constant pressure of farm
opinion on the Canadian gov-
ernment which induced parlia-
ment to pass the Canada Grain
Act in 1911 which has pro-
tected the interest of the
farmer, and to establish the
Board of Grain Commission-
ers which has regulated all
phases of the grain trade
Jo the elevator by the farmer
from the delivery of the grain
to its delivery to the foreign
purchaser. The high regard
which Canadian grain holds
in world markets is primarily
due to the Board’s careful
pupervision of every step in
the marketing process. The
final link in this process is of
course the Canadian Wheat
Board which in recent years
fias negotiated the immense
sales of wheat to the USSR,
China and other countries.
JULY22TO AUGUST7
The Pan American Games
symbol represents an athlete
welcoming all visitors of Can-
ada for 1967.
CORRECTION:
The date in the cut line page 14
should be 1866 instead of 1886.
Self propelled Combine.