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the tribune stouffville ont thursday march 2 1950 canadian plowmen abroad by alex mckinney jr dirtciot ontario plowmens association its more than a month since we hoarded the queen mary at new york to sail to the united kingj dom since then weve been around quite a bit visiting points in england denmark and west germany now after spending four days in the netherlands we are in ulster but before describ ing our experiences in northern ireland ill try and pick up where i left off in my last letter the one from germany we travelled by train from ham burg to holland here we were met at the hague by d a bruce marshall the agricultural speci- alist of the canadian embassy many of you will remember brucesj father the late senator duncan marshall the senator was at one time minister of agriculture for ontario and did much to encourage the raising of purebred cattle as well as other improvements in canadian agriculture bruce was a great help to us and acted as our guide and interpreter throughout our visit we have been told that holland is a small country with a large population and everything we saw tended to bear this out the farms are so small that they can no longer be divided up to hand on to des cendants of the families that oc cupy them as a result about 1so000 people leave agriculture each year they must seek em ployment in other fields but as there are not a great many other industries agriculture accounting for 00 per cent of hollands export trade many of these people must m vi m mm m m m mm m m m m m m m m welcome your chicks with master chick starter krums they are bitesize and palatable they are feedsaving and clean follow the master feeding program to ensure the best results mmmmm master balanced feeds for mx cum or muiw mm uvl stock fur marino animal p0s mmmmmi mmmmmi we stock a complete line of master feeds t h paisley stouffville phone 267 we deliver ml fly 9 feeders who keep records eventually buy master- migrate we were told that hol land looks to canada to receive as many dutch immigrants as possible from my observations i would say the dutch are an industrious lot and i feel the same about them as i do about the danes that is that canada should admit as many of them as she can absorb as we expected holland is the land of windmills and dikes we could understand this when we learned that more than 30 per cent of the country is below sea level the dutch are finding it very cost ly to reclaim the land that they flooded when the nazis invaded their country you really have to go there and see for yourself to realize how much work is involved in maintaining the dikes and mann ing the pumping stations that keep the sea out its an amazing country on one of the motor trips we made we saw a flower auction in operation it was held about 10 miles from amsterdam in a hall about an acre in extent there was about every flower you can think of there as well as quantities of winter vegetables they were brought in on trays each tray was numbered and represented a cer tain grower there were about 150 buyers on hand most of them from london paris brussels and other centres outside holland each buyer had an electric push button at his side the peculiar thing about this auction is that the bidding is the reverse of ours the price starts high and comes down as the auction proceeds when the price suited a buyer he pushed the button and a light flashed this stopped the bidding this also meant that there was only one bidder this system seems to main tain prices at a very high level during our stay at the hague the canadian ambassador hon pierre dupuy gave a dinner in our honor it was a wonderful dinner and was attended by many dutch government officials at the dinner i presented three of the canadian maple trees i brought with me to the dutch government when the weather improves the dutch authorities are going to plant them in the canadian war cemeteries over there i might say that the maple trees which i presented as a symbol of canadian fellowship and esteem for the overseas countries were well received everywhere at copen hagen i planted one at the veter inary college at newquay in cornwall where the boys plowed their first match soon after arriv ing in the uk i planted a maple and presented one to the city it is to be planted in the city square some time it was in belfast that they made a big ceremony out of the tree planting i planted one in the city square and the lord mayor mr w johnston and other dignitaries were on hand it was quite an honor for the lord mayor told me that it was the first tree planted in the city square by any one other than a member of royalty the last tree planted there was an oak and it was planted by the duke of windsor when he was prince of wales that was one of the highlights of our week in ulster we came here after a day in london when we were the guest of col j s p armstrong the ontario govern ment agentgeneral at a luncheon we had flown to london from the hague and the trip was uneventful we went from london by train and then by boat to belfast and that too was a fairly uneventful trip here the boys took part in the north of ireland international plowing match at mullusk just outside of belfast it was a dirty day but there were a fair number of spectators on hand jim eccles came eighth in a class of 38 which included six plowmen from swe den they used irish plows and the irish people said jim did ex ceptionally well i thought so too for jim only had one days practice on the high cut plow as i said before we spent a week in ireland and it was the busiest week ive ever spent we were taken everywhere and only one night did i manage to get to bed before 2 am irish hospital ity defies description its over whelming on one occasion i must have had six cups of tea within less than two hours and thats a record for me another experience that stands out in my mind was meeting jim kernaham assistant to the minis ter of agriculture for ulster dur ing our conversation we discovered that his grandmother and my grandmother were sisters but i think youve had enough for now by the time you are read ing this letter we will probably be back in canada after a visit to scotland ill tell you about that in my next letter its been a won derful experience being over here but well be glad to see canada again new winter policy doors open 845 pm show rts 700 pjn monday to saturday matinee sat at 200 pm three more great days thur frl sat march 2 3 4 the most eagerly i awaited motion picture in years cancer has proven more deadly than any war doctors say it is not the increase but that higher statis tics are due to earlier and better diagnosis than heretofore the rest of the jolson story a coiumbia picture parks barbara hale starring larry wiilttn ludnit 841 myroa demarest donath goodwin mccormick shayne 4 heart thrilling days monday to thursday mar 6 7 8 9 lvv wbbt fire fire fire removal sale petrolane bottle gas ranges 4 vo ii s v j s- m s v c vttf lamflke situation is well m haid john wayne john agar adele mara- forrest tucker jtth wally casseu james brown richard webb arthur franz juue bishop james houoi peter coe rickaro meckel- kr iit ho- lom ui cm sw tr mfrr oiktedlrartnowafl aswcutc producer- edmund grstnr a republic pictlfre every range will carry new range guarantee wellknown makes see these ranges on display get yours now at big discount petrolane gas is safe note his that tanks of petrolane bottled gas which went right through the worst heat of the big fire which destroyed our premises a few weeks ago were absolutely undamaged both tanks and contents as already announced in the press plans have been made for the building of a new bottling plant ware houses showrooms and offices at richmond hill a betterthanever service for both industrial and domestic users will then be available for all of this district in the meantime its business as usual and uptotheminute service for users of petrolane the best bottled gas on the market petrolane corporation ltd thornhill ont yonge street east side telephone thornhill 251 remove 3inch pencil stub in boys throat a threeinch pencil stub lodged in the throat of donald hightower seven a grade two pupil at ajax public school has been removed and the boys condition is satis factory according to oshawa gen eral hospital authorities the boy had been playing with the pencil in his mouth and accidentally swallowed it mrs h westney his teacher thought at first he was sick and took him from the classroom although he could hardly speak he managed to explain he had a pencil in his throat mrs westney attempted to dis lodge the pencil but donald choked and began to turn blue she said h r mark principal of the school had the boy rushed to hospital unemployment at l a per cent of the working force is considered fcy canadian government experts to be just about the irreducible mini mum t your singer representative will be in your district every second day guaranteed new and used singer sewing machines new singers 8950 and up easy budget terms repairs to all makes complete line of sewing needs for prompt courteous service please write or phone singer sewing machine co 102 main st newmarket ont phone 1075 we are the only authorized singer agents in this district w c mcdonald ro optometrist at stouffville every saturday 2 to 9 pm complete visual service office phone behind marie jack ioui beanty salon note for your convenience you may phone jtflwl for eye examination appointment any time dnrinf the week