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the tribune stouffville ont thursday february 9 1950 canadian plowmen abroad by alex mckinney jr director ontario piowmens association editors note this is the field of icebergs so you might call second of a series of weekly stories lit uneventful but i must say ve which alex jickinny jr of j found life on the rolling deep brampton ont a director of the aboard the queen mary quite ontario plowmens association pleasant we can recommend it to who as their coachmanager will write about the visit of canadas champion plowmen to the british isles west germany denmark and the netherlands england here we are in the mother country since i last wrote weve put the atlantic ocean behind us were seen quite was a warm welcome in fact a bit of england and the two everywhere we have gone since champion plowmen jim eccles and ron marquis have won prizes at the newquay plowing match they did themselves proud as far as our sea voyage is con cerned we didnt run down any whales or get tangled up in any people you would want to meet one of the highlights of our week in england was the plowing match at newquay i mentioned earlier there were 07 entries in plowing and 25 others in hedging and thatching our boys used can adian plows and plowed the two straightest lands in the field jim eccles came third in the tractor class and ron marquis was fifth in the horsedrawn plow class the boys did remarkably well when you consider they were com peting against match plows equipped with wheel presses floats and just about every other conceivable device another thing i noticed was that nearly all the plowmen were older men who had been competing in these matches for years i only saw two boys who looked as if they were under 20 years of age wheii the judge suggested the boys were using their brawn instead of their brains i felt like saying that one result of using stock plows in ontario matches was that the average age our arrival overseas we have beeiiof the plowmen at burford last with scarcely any frost at all the devon including 15 cows milking all our friends within fifteen minutes after the ship docked at southampton officials of the canadian and ontario governments over here and a representative of anglo- american oil co came on board and welcomed us to england it one still warmly greeted evidence of the hardships these people have suffered and the short ages and controls under which they still live but despite all this they are the most hospitable sees year was in the twenties since the match weve had a good look at conditions over here as far as the weather goes it is fields are still green grass is grow ing and in southern england the cattle are nearly all in the fields weve been told by the farmers weve met that the stock hasnt required as much supplementary feeding this winter as in other years the farm fields in great britain are much smaller than ours they are irregular in shape and sur rounded by hedges of various kinds in the midlands we noticed that some of the farmers are removing their hedges to make their fields larger and more suit able for power machinery i might mention here that there are more tractors per acre in britain than in ontario and there are very few horses in the better farming areas some of the things we learned about agriculture in great britain made us realize that every country has its own way of doing things for instance the average farmer in britain keeps as much livestock but uses more labor on 100 acres than we do on a 200acre farm in ontario j m woodley of newquay is a good example he farms 105 acres of land which he much as it was when we left home leases from the king on that it has been a very open winter farm he keeps go head of purebred 60 breeding ewes a flock of 150 hens and last year he marketed 50 hogs besides this livestock mr wood- ley grows five acres of early potatoes which he will plant this month february and harvest in early june after that he will use the same land for broccoli or brussels sprouts he operates the farm with the help of three men two small tractors and two horsej he hires extra labor in harvest time mr woodleys farm buildings are stone and one storey high maybe 150 years old they are grouped around his house which is older still farms such as this rent for four or five pounds per acre about 13 to s1g at the preseit rate of exchange restrictions and controls arc the chief cause of complaint here colored gasoline in what seems to be sufficient quantities can be obtained for tractors but only eight gallons a month are allowed for ears and as a result there are few on the road farmers are told what to grow and they are graded a b and c by the agricultural committee according to their efficiency the prices of some everyday things are lower here than in canada meat sells from is cd to 2s about 2230 cents a pound mi it is tightly rationed some other foods are also cheap the difference in price is made up by subsidies which cost the taxpayer 400 million pounds sterling last year many other goods are expensive and heavily taxed cigarettes are 3s od about 50c for a package of 20 i think this is enough for this letter but 1 must say here that weve had a very interesting visit and id like to come back to eng land in the spring or summer when all the trees and hedges are green im sure it must be beautiful we are all excited now about our visit to the continent and are looking forward to the trip ill tell you about some of our european experiences in my next letter agnes macphail visits new ontario dear people of york east now available to serve you better the complete line of iff m ab m m i in wfi siwfc 11 in made in canada ldyfh home and farm equipment budget terms arranged 24 months to pay fairbanksmorse automatic oil burner for yearround trouble free operation no banking of fires at night no rush to a cold dusty cellar at an early hour to stoke up the fire no ashes no danger ous coal gas your home will be at the same even temperature at all times with 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scooped out basin over an area of fifty acres which is at its deepest two hundred and fifty feet getting shallower toward the brim the most remarkable thing is that this deposit used to lie under a lake and the whole lake had to be drained with the river feeding it diverting into a new channel the water of the lake was actually pumped out providing access to the iron deposits the ore is broken up by putting dynamite in holes ten or twelve feet apart covering quite an area and blasting all at the same time the terrific concussion smashes the ore body into small fragments after which it is scooped up by a shovel with a four ton bucket and trucked to railway cars and then shipped by boat from port arthur and sold to united states for pro cessing for which we get 600 per ton as a canadian it is humiliat ing to find the processing is almost all done on the other side of the line and a great deal of the money to develop steep rock came from united states i cannot see why canada could not have taken care of the development i agree that it was too much for the province but if we really wanted to do it that way surely the dominion treas ury could help the province develop canadian resources after the train journey from steep rock we had breakfast in fort frances and what a break fast ham and eggs followed by the most delicious fish caught in local waters i just had a glimmer of sense left and didnt eat the ham and eggs and greatly enjoyed the fish we travelled by buses to sioux narrows and detoured to see a lumbermans lodge which was indeed beautiful with acres of clipped lawns and a blaze of beaut iful flowers the house itself was a dream of a place but from there to the narrows we never saw another lawn worthy of the name nor a really comfortable residence i thought how much better it would be if each little farm had some beauty and the lumber magnet not so much dont mind me im just queer the hon harold scott was very delightful and tried to have every member of the party share in the various ways of travel at sioux narrows he asked me if 1 would like to fly to kenora i thought i would but i had never been up before in a small plane which was only about as big as my new austin i took the precaution of sitting next the pilot but that didnt give me a feeling of security as we bobbed along over the forty thousand islands in the lake of the woods there must have been wings on the plane but they were certainly behind me so that i had a non- obstructed view of the lake very very much lower i have always enjoyed flying before but in all other cases the plane was a large one on this occasion the smooth landing was a great relief and taxiing into kenora like arriving home after a long absence the hon harold scott had intended that the party would be housed in the lodge formerly owned by the late peter heenan but two days before our arrival the lodge burned down which made a bit of bother about hous ing us after the hotel was filled private homes were opened the legislative party were entertained most royally at every stop and at keewatin our host was the ontario minnesota pulp paper com pany and we were received by an american who is i am sure a fine person but again i felt humiliated that it was not a native of our own country but the entertainment was lavish if a little too liquid and the friendship warm the amusement provided in kenora was a beautiful boat ride on the lake of the woods