March 3, 1921
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
March 3, 1921
I’m sure readers will forgive me—you may even thank me—if I cut some of this week’s look-back at a century ago to the bone. The front page of this issue of The Leader is divided into three main news stories:
—THE EGG SITUATION
—THE SILO IN COWICHAN
—U.F. OF B.C. CONVENTION
Now, for those readers who raise chickens professionally or are dairy farmers, I’m sure these stories would be fascinating. But I really don’t think I have many of such callings among my subscribers and I’m going to chance editing this down, down, down...
My choosing to do so only shows how much the Cowichan Valley has changed. Back then most residents, even those who lived in towns, kept chickens and a milk cow. Dairy farming was BIG, the Cowichan Creamery Co-op was one of the Valley’s largest employers whose ‘milk days’ brought farmers to town and all but doubled merchants’ sales. So it should come as no surprise that The Leader would treat farming news as serious business and of interest to most of its readers.
First up, the egg situation. This lengthy article wasn’t staff written but is the penmanship of Koksilah poultryman Walter Paterson. His concern was public misconception of the markup between wholesale and retail of a dozen eggs; in the case he cited, 34c and 50c. He was concerned that consumers were convinced that they were being gouged by so large a spread between producer and seller.
He explained how the distributor ( the Co-op) had to pack the eggs for shipment at a cost of 2 1/4c per dozen to which was added the cost of express, another 1 3/4c per dozen. Further handling before sale in Victoria brought the 34-cent dozen eggs to 42c thus greatly reducing the spread applied by merchants. In effect, the middlemen (storekeepers) were making 8-9c per dozen Cowichan eggs which was consistent with studies that showed that they needed to earn an across-the-board 16-17 per cent per sales item.
The real competition in egg sales wasn’t among Island farmers but from abroad, from Washington State and China, Paterson noted, and which the Chronicles has covered in a previous post.
I could go on but, at the risk of being cavalier, I think this covers the subject to the extent needed.
Which brings us to the story on silos.
(You don’t see many silos in the Valley any more, and some of those you do are no longer in use. I can remember when I first moved to Cobble Hill, I received a breathless call from a friend who lived in the Fraser Valley. He’d started work as a salesman for Harvestore, a large silo company, and he’d just made his first sale, to the dairy farm beside Dougan Lake. He wanted to take me to dinner to celebrate.
(He chose Hy’s Steakhouse and ordered filet mignon for both of us. I could hardly wait for it to be delivered to our table. Imagine: filet mignon. The best steak I’d ever had—I’m referring to the cut, not necessarily the flavour—was sirloin. What a disappointment! Yes, it was more than an inch thick—but smaller in diameter than a Dad’s Cookie. Yes, it tasted fine, but I’ve always had a healthy appetite and that dinner to celebrate Dennis’ first sale just didn’t fill me. I hope I didn’t let my disappointment show.)
But I digress.
Back to The Leader of 1921 and silos. Apparently an unnamed Valley farm had been one of the first to experiment with this feed storage system but it had been crudely built so blew down in a windstorm. (Concrete silos later became the norm.) W.P. Jaynes of Windmill Farm then did it right, followed by E.H. Forrest of Cowichan Station. In 1916 the Davenport-Chapman Brothers of Maple Bay began building them professionally.
Fast-forward to 1921 and The Leader decided to poll dairy farmers to see how the silo situation was faring. Of the 17 farmers who responded to the questionnaire, only two expressed doubt, the others being favourable to the silage process whether or not they owned one. Oats, peas, clover, a vetch mixture and corn were the favourite silage and one farmer had successfully experimented with sunflowers mixed equally with oats and corn. Only one farmer admitted that his first attempt had failed; in a word, “Rotten!”
The secret, it seems, is in the way the crop is compressed in the silo but I’ll spare you a scientific explanation of the way decomposing vegetable matter works.
Which brings us to the United Farmers of B.C. convention just held in Vancouver. Again, I’ll try to be brief. The big issue of the day was whether or not to form a political party in the hope of achieving a greater voice in the government. After considerable discussion described as a “wild hurricane of words,” and lunch to think it over, the overwhelming majority opinion of delegates voted that to do so would be premature. What was needed, they said, was to establish a B.C. Council of Agriculture composed of the specialized branches of the agricultural industry to replace a multitude of independent groups that lacked cohesion and never got anywhere.
The Union’s membership fee was to go to $3 and there was enthusiasm for “Made in B.C.” packaging.
So much for farming news. The Agricultural Society was mentioned but for the fact they’d commissioned changes to the stage in their hall. Carpentry work by L.C. Springett, painting, new pulleys for the curtains, etc. added up to $380, then a sizable outlay. All had to be finished in a hurry as the hall had been rented for April 7th.
The annual general meeting of the Koksilah Golf Club had had to be postponed when unusually balmy weather proved to be irresistible to directors.
Duncan users of electricity had voted down all-night power service, 65-17, but compromised on a 1:00 a.m. shut-off which wouldn’t cost them any more; all-night electricity would have cost them another three mills on their property taxes.
Last but not least, the King’s Daughters had scheduled their 15th annual flower show for April 23rd at the Agricultural Hall.
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