them, some still do, and they were a valuable cash crop, sold in Charlottetown. Growing wild, the only labour involved was picking them. They were so valuable to the local residents that farmers claimed added compensation for the loss of their cranberries when the shoreward area of their farms was expropriated by the National Park. A definitely unusual crop was ginseng, grown in Stanhope by Sydney Ranicar and Malcolm MacCallum in the 1930‘s. This plant belongs to the genus Aralia and has a thick fleshy aromatic root; this is used medicinally for a variety of ailments, and as an aphrodisiac. There was and still is an excellent market for it; for further details see the section on Ranicar and MacCallum in the family histories.
The change from horse power to cars, trucks, tractors and all the other agricultural machines meant increased production and larger acreages, with the tendency for mixed farming to give way to monocul- turalism. Fishing also attracted men away from purely agricultural pursuits. However, it was tourism that became agriculture’s rival in Stanhope, which had always been a popular place to visit (the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, and some of the Fathers of Confederation, enjoyed their respective visits here in 1860 and 1864). Point Pleasant, later the Cliff Hotel, and Glencorse, followed by Mutch’s Hotel and
Douglas farmyard 1927: Agnes, Percy & Keith Douglas Thelma Douglas coll.
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