CHAPTER 7

Agriculture

CLEARING THE LAND

The pioneers that settled in the Formosa area and the Townships of Carrick and Culross between the years 1852 and 1862 lead a life filled with innumerable hardships. Before those early farmers could get down to practising their occupation, the land had to be prepared for farming. This area was a dense forest populated with virgin timber, great in size, but of no value except for lumber to be used in building construction. Hemlock and pine were the most weather-resistant wood, while cedar was used for roofing material, such as shingles. These were split by hand before shingle mills were brought into the area from the older settlements.

The task of building shelter was foremost in the minds of the early settlers. Once a bit of land was cleared and the brush burned, the main tool of the pioneer was sharpened, and again this axe was busy. The houses and barns were all built from logs flattened on two sides and notched at the ends to hook together to be held securely. Between the logs the spaces were then plastered with a piaster made out of lime, water and sand, called chinking.

The lime was burnt out of limestone found on some of the farms. The stones were placed in a kiln with an oven made of hard stone built underneath and then fired with a great heat supplied by mostly heavy cord length or limb wood. This firing took three or four days, until the limestone was burned to a powder. It was then left for a few days to cool before it could be handled. Now with a home and a few acres of cleared land the settlers were ready to seriously practice the art of farming.

LIVESTOCK

The most important stock to the farmer were his animals that provided power. At first the slow, patient and enduring oxen were used as the beasts of burden, but gradually, as the land was cleared, more and more horses came into use. About the year 1900, Lawrence Montag sold the last yoke of oxen in the area. The horse then became the main source of farm power.

In those early years, each farmer had a cow for milking and a few chickens. In the winter, the cattle were let graze in the bush in hope they would find enough greens to survive.

In the 1860's, with the advent of grain crops, farmers began raising many more animals. The fat cattle overseas market was soon opened with the most practical weight being twelve hundred to sixteen hundred pounds. The breeds desired for this trade were mostly Durham or Shorthorn Hereford and Aberdeen Angus. The dairy breeds at this stage were not very general as the cheese and cream factories operated only in the summer. The odd Jersey or Guernsey or Swiss mixed with a beef strain was considered a good dual strain.

By the end of the 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's hogs were just becoming popular. Drovers at that time had a delivery date each week, varying in the different areas. The livestock was shipped by rail mostly to Toronto. With the invention of cars and trucks, trucks became the means of transportation to get the stock out to market. The trailer began to be used behind the car, to go to the mill or market, and cattle were never driven to market any more.

BEEFRINGS

Some animals were needed for home consumption as most people raised their own meat.

In the village there were little barns built on the corner of a number of lots and a cow or two were usually kept to supply milk for the family. With the surplus milk and scraps a few pigs were fed during the summer, fattened and slaughtered for food in the fall.

Grain and hay were easily obtained from the farmers, often in exchange for work performed at harvest time or with building projects.

In the late 1890's beef rings came into existence and were quite common as there was no refrigeration. Sixteen members belonged to each ring and each person supplied one beast per summer_ A two-year-old heifer, dressing around four hundred pounds was the preferred choice. A butcher was chosen and it was his duty to cut up and divide the meat. Each family received a different portion each week, weights were recorded and in the end each member had received a whole animal.

Slaughtering usually took place on Friday evening. The beef hung over night and between four and six a.m. the cutting and dividing was done. Each shareholder was expected to pick up his share of meat between six and seven a.m. the hide, tallow and fat went to the owner of the beast. In the fall of the year a meeting was held at the home of the butcher to tally all the weights of meat delivered and anyone who received any extra meat paid for it to reimburse those that were short.

These beef rings continued until between the 1940's and 50's. Some of the known butchers of the Formosa area were Alphonse Zettel, Frank Schaefer, John Bohnert, Herb Benninger, Albert Schaefer, Jos Stroeder, Jos Weber, and Mathew Weiler.

DAIRY

As farms became more established in the 1870's and 80's, dairy operations began to blossom. Because there were no milking machines, and the cows had to be milked by hand, and because milking was a real chore at the end of a long day in the fields, only ten or twelve cows comprised an average dairy herd.

Teeswater Creamery established in 1875 was the first creamery in Ontario and the second in Canada. Some years later Formosa opened a creamery which operated in the summer months only, for about ten years.

This 'Eskdale Creamery' manufactured butter for export. One of the butter makers was Edward Kuntz, father of Herbert. In 1896 an uninsured butter shipment destined for England was lost at sea causing the Formosa Eskdale Creamery to shut its doors.

Milk collected from the cows was placed in cans by the farmers, then left to cool in a fresh spring water box or in a water box in the pump house. The cream was either skimmed off the top or the milk was run off from a tap at the bottom of the can.

Cream separators began to be used about 1910. The cream was gathered with a horse drawn wagon supporting a large tank. To test the cream a ladle of cream was taken from the can and put in test tubes carried on top of the tank and then the rest of the cream was poured into the tank.

In the early 1920's Thompson Bros. purchased the Teeswater Creamery and with the introduction of motor trucks most of the cream was gathered in that fashion. Winter months still saw the horses and sleds hauling the cream to town as late as the 1940's as the roads were not snow plowed.

Hydro was brought in on the main line in the early 1930's while many of the concessions did not enjoy this convenience until 1948. As hydro was introduced so was the milking machine, which enabled farmers to increase their dairy herds.

In the pioneer years, farmers stocked a variety of animals but in these modern times many farmers specialize in dairy, beef, poultry, hogs or perhaps the raising of cash crops.

CROPS

The earliest pioneers first planted potatoes to sustain life while they were clearing the land. Then a little grain was planted and gradually the farmer could produce enough so that some could even be sold.

The first wheat grown was spring wheat, which is a harder variety than the present winter wheat. Winter wheat has better milling qualities for bread flour. The two wheats were sometimes mixed and used for pastry flour.

A little rye was also planted. This grain, similar to wheat, was also ground and used for the making of a not too tasty deep brown rye bread.

Barley was grown to some extent for malting purposes while oats was a good nourishing horse feed, that could also be used as a breakfast food for the humans. The oats were crushed or rolled and the meal separated from the hulls, then packaged in bags of various weights. The work of grinding grains was done in mills known as grist mills, or oat-rolling mills, which were usually built beside a very swiftly running stream so as to operate the mill on cheap waterpower. If a customer was unable to pay for the processing services, he would leave toll, which was a portion of the grist.

A very early and common cash crop was that of peas, being processed as food for humans. By the early 1900's farmers were growing as well, a variety of root crops, e.g. turnips and mangolds. Beans, some buckwheat and a little corn were also grown. Fruit orchards were a common sight and earned extra revenue.

In time, after the land was continuously cultivated and cropped, weeds began to appear. Crops were then rotated from field to field and summer fallowing was practiced, in the hope that cultivating the empty plot at regular intervals during the hot summer sun would kill the weeds. Orchard spray was the first chemical used for pest control but in this present day there is no end to the insecticides and herbicides available on the market.

During the early years no mixed crops were grown as barley was considered too heavy a feed for the horses. Wheat, oats and barley were planted separately. Barley produced a plant with a weak straw and because it was unable to hold the weight of the grain, farmers began to plant oats with the barley, thus mixed crops. As long as a farmer still had horses, a field of oats was planted as well for their feed.

Today most farmers in the Formosa vicinity plant mixed grain, and as well, corn is a very popular feed for livestock and cash cropping.

HARVESTING Apples

Due to the fact that by 1900 most of the farm lands had been cleared of timber there developed an overseas market for apples. Nearly every homestead planted an orchard of several acres and in a few years a cash crop from the fruit trees added substantially to the farm cash income.

A domestic market for cherries, plums and pears prompted every landowner to plant a number of these trees to supply the family with delicious home-made jams while the apple trees supplied apple jack and butter.

Barrel and stave mills did a booming business and the need and method for spraying the blossoms and trees to avoid insect damage was discovered.

Apple Clubs of thirty to forty members sprung up in every area. Horse-drawn spray machines were purchased and could move from farm to farm several times during the growing season. The chugging of the hit-and-miss gasoline-powered spray pumps and the sight of the men handling the nozzles from their enclosed tower on the machine was very intriguing, especially to children. Occasionally this operation was suddenly thrown into serious turmoil when bee swarms were encountered.

In the fall of the year the apples would be handpicked and piled deep in sheds. A crew of several men would come, sort and pack the apples, stencil the barrels with the different varieties and grades, and the Formosa's Fruit Growers Association was stamped on each lid. These large containers were then loaded on horse-drawn wagons and shipped by rail to Montreal where they boarded the freighters for oversea markets. This rather profitable venture continued for many years, but due to a failing overseas market and succeeding frost damage killing the trees, it gradually faded out.

The apples which were rejected by the graders, found themselves stored in the cool cellars to be used for domestic purposes such as apple sauce, and delicious pies. Let us not forget that mother also required a cash flow for extra goodies, so most every evening during the fall and winter a pail or two of apples had to be peeled, quartered and put into the racks placed high over the kitchen stove. When sufficiently dried to a leathery texture they were packed into clean white cotton bags. The whole family assisted in the chore or preparing the apples. The local store would buy the apples or mother would barter them for needed supplies. From the store they were transshipped just as was done with butter, feathers, lard, soaps, wool and a host of other commodities.

The crude methods of harvesting all crops, used by the early pioneers have changed drastically over the last one hundred years.

Haying

The earliest method of providing hay consisted of the scythe being swung by hand and laying the green grasses into windrows for drying by the sun and air. As soon as it was wilted or partially dry the hay was forked into piles called coils. The art in this process was being able to place the hay in such a way that in the event of rain the umbrella shaped coil would turn the moisture so that only the outer surface would bleach. After about a week of drying and curing, the hay was loaded by fork into a wagon and drawn to the barn to be stored for winter feeding. This method of coiling hay was used for many years.

The grass mower with a five to six-foot cut bar drawn by one horse with shafts or drawn by a team of horses had appeared by 1890 and served well for nearly a half century. Dump rakes as well as the drum type side rakes were used to roll the hay into swaths.

You could bale up to 16 tons of hay a day with this 1913 International hay press.

But even with the six-horsepower engine to squeeze the hay into bales,

it still took four or five men to operate it, and load hay into it from a stack.

For a few years there was a hay press in the community but even with the six horsepower engine to squeeze the hay into bales, it still took four or five men to operate it and load hay into it from a stack. The bales were tied by hand with wire. In the late 1940's and early 1950's balers that tied with twine were being used in this area.

Today haying is still one of the farm operations that require extra men to help but with the bale-throwing balers which toss the hay bale into a racked wagon, only one man is required in the field.

Grain

CUTTING

At first the cradle was used by hand to cut the grain. In the late 1860's the horse-drawn reaper was a great invention. It cut the grain and raked it into neat bundles, but four or five men were needed to bind the grain into sheaves. Women often helped in this back-breaking work.

The McCormick "Advance" reaper was the last word in harvesting

at the time of Confederation. It cut the grain and raked it into

neat bundles. But four or five men were needed to bind the grain

into sheaves.

In 1880, Massey Harris shipped eight binders to the area from Brantford. Four were kept in Carrick with Ignatius Kieffer, grandfather of John, owning one. These binders were horse drawn and meant no more tying by hand into sheaves.

This 1913 binder, as its name implied, bound the cut grain into sheaves,

a big advance over the reaper that left bundles to be bound by hand.

"Deering" was one of several names within the International Harvester

family of farm equipment.

With the introduction of the tractor in the 1920's, horse-drawn binders very gradually began to fade away. Farmers Dominic and Herbert Borho jointly owned one of the first tractors. It was an early fordson with steel rimmed and spoked wheels, which they purchased in 1922. Dominic did much custom work for the neighbours because of this modern piece of machinery. The first rubber-tired tractor in the Formosa District was owned by Ed Waechter. With this International Farmal F-20, which he purchased in 1937, Mr. Waechter did a great deal of custom work. It ran on

gasoline or kerosene and today is owned by Andy Kuntz Jr. and is still in use.

After the tractor-drawn binders, the swather was born. This machine cut the grain and layed it in rows on top of the stubble. Gradually stooking became less popular and the local farmers would bail thresh their grain.

THRESHING

Before the invention of the modern threshing machines in the early decades of the twentieth century, farmers would lay sheaves of grain out on the barn floor, then with a flail would beat the sheaves until the grain fell out_ The straw was gathered and the grain being placed on a blanket would be tossed in the air to allow the wind to blow away the chaff thus cleaning the grain.

As farmers grew more grain, they were most thankful for the horsepower machine and the threshing machine. Before the introduction of the tractor, harvesting needed very little fuel as most was produced on the farm — grain for the horses and wood for running the steam engines.

The horse was used to provide power by being hitched to a very simple machine called a horsepower which was an apparatus with two sets of cogs running against each other, attached to and thus turning a long heavy shaft, which was connected to a pulley, from which a belt was run to operate a threshing machine. The most popular size was a four or five team unit. That is; the horsepower machine was attached to a sturdy frame circle with pieces of wood, spokes or arms as they were called, extending thus allowing a team of horses to be hitched to each arm. Each team was tied to the team in front of them and the horses walked continuously in a circle, thereby turning the horsepower machine.

With the power now there, the first thresher consisted of a mechanism called a cylinder and a few shaker decks, which threshed the grain and chaff from the straw. The grain containing the chaff was then run through a fanning mill to be cleaned while the straw was elevated to the mow or on a stack in the barn yard. Joseph Meyer, father of Edmund, for many years operated a steam-powered thresher. His first steam engine had no traction, therefore required horses to move it and the grain separator from farm to farm. Barn threshing often lasted from August to December. Alphonse Zettel purchased one of the first gas tractor custom threshing machines in the area from C.J. Koenig in Mildmay.

Locally, Lion threshing machines were manufactured in a foundry in Mildmay owned by Hergott Bros. and later by Lobsinger Bros. until just a few years ago. The threshing machines were soon modernized with self-feeders and straw blowers, and grain elevators and straw cutters became common equipment.

Tractor-drawn combines came in before the second world war and in the post-war period, self-propelled combines heralded a new age of fast efficient harvesting.

Today, although a few farmers still use the threshing machine, most of the Carrick, Culross, Greenock and Brant farmers have their grain combined. About thirty-five or forty acres of mixed grain can be combined in a day, truly a great change from the early years.

SOCIALS

At the close of the maple syrup season taffy parties were often held. These were social events, sometimes held in the bush but more often in the house, when friends and neighbours were invited to spend an evening of fun and partake of as much taffy as they could eat. Taffy was made by boiling the syrup longer and then pouring it over clean snow salvaged from some unmelted snowbank.

Maple sugar was made by boiling the syrup still longer, beating it vigorously and pouring it into buttered flat-bottomed pans. No one ever seemed to get ill from eating maple products. Fond memories of these taffy parties are enjoyed by many old timers as they reminisce about the good old days.

THE GOLD MEDAL FARM

About the time of Confederation -1867- there came to this area a farmer with a great desire and ambition to succeed and excel, namely one Andrew Waechter, born at New Germany, Waterloo County on January 25, 1845. Soon after purchasing Lots 1, 2, and 3, Concession A, Brant Township, a two-hundred-and-fifty-acre plot, he set his sights to make it into a show place. He chose a high knoll as the setting or location for his home and farm buildings. The earliest name for his holding being that of 'Fairview Farms.'

Mr. Waechter soon employed a number of men to clear the land of its vast amount of hard woods. Trees were felled, logs piled high and brush set afire. The land contained a large amount of stones and therefore the road fences were built of stone neatly piled six feet wide and three feet high. Cedar posts were placed in a straight line to which barbed wires were attached. He had a fine feeding and water system, kept his land clean by rotating crops and produced high quality beef steers.

A contest was started and an 'Award of Merit', which was called the Gold Medal Farm, was awarded to the winner. Andrew Waechter's farm being in such excellent condition was the recipient of the 1889 Gold Medal Award.

POWER

Oxen were first used for power by the pioneer, until the land was cleared and then horses became the main source of power. The horse was used to pull the plow, haul the wood and timber to market, provide transportation on the mud and gravel trails as well as the wintery snow drifted roads.

The horse was used to operate the horsepower machine as previously explained under harvesting. Small power units called treadmills requiring only one or two horses to operate it, were used for light work such as pulping roots and pumping water.

When the heavy timber frame barns were erected on the massive stone foundation, these barns were considered sturdy enough to support windmills. Farmers were interested in cheaper power and thus windmills were used mostly for grinding grain for the livestock and pumping water.

In the 1920's tractors were introduced to the area taking over much of the work of the horses.

Delco power came into existence about 1925. Edmund Meyer did most of the wiring for the few farmers in this district that installed this low voltage hydro system that made power from a gas-powered generator and rechargeable batteries. It was used to pulp turnips, run the washing machine and iron and give light. With the advent of Delco power coal oil lamps were less frequently used.

The first hydro line was brought into Formosa in 1915. Some 30 years later practically all farms were hydro equipped.

DRAINAGE OF LANDS

In the early years of clearing the lands, it was evident that drainage was required to drain waters produced by winter snow and springy land, thus also avoiding soil erosion.

The first drains were made by shoveling out soil, gathering millions of flat stones and laying them in such a fashion that openings were created forming a tunnel wherein water was carried to a proper open outlet. Many of these drains, one hundred years and older are still operative today. Had they been laid at a much greater depth thereby not being disturbed by deep soil machinery they would still be the most durable drainage material ever used. The care and workmanship in their construction has never since been equaled.

The use of sawn wood planks to form tillage was then employed, especially when trees were plentiful and flat stones were scarce.

Next came the use of burnt clay tile, with a flat outside surface for easier laying and non-shifting. The diameter of the tile ranged from two to sixteen inches.

Concrete tile came about with the introduction of portland cement which was commonly used in this area about the turn of the century.

With the advent of plastic, tiles constructed of this material became popular. Although plastic tiles are easier to install, many farmers consider clay tile to be a more durable way of constructing land drainage.

At first tile was installed by means of a pick and shovel but now huge self-propelled ditching machines handle the operations of digging and laying the clay or plastic tiles, with the assistance of a few men to strike the levels and operate the machinery.

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