A riculture and Farm Life

during the 1920’s that many farms in Marshfield started raising foxes for their fur. Two of the largest ranches were the Munn Ranch and the Lily Ranch. The Munn Ranch was located on the property of John Munn while the Lily Ranch was located across from the present M & M Furniture store.

Courtesy oi Eleanor Boswall Fox pens on the Munn farm. Feeding system designed by John R. Munn.

The majority of farms keeping foxes kept only a few pair perhaps selling 15 to 20 pelts per season. In an estimate of production costs from the 1930’s, all the costs associated with raising a fox to pelting stage were $25. Price for average pelts was around $35 with a return on average of $10 per pelt”. Extra dollars from foxes certainly came in handy, “A few pairs of foxes kept in conjunction with other livestock may make all the difference when the pelts are sold in December“...” A lot of the specialized work with foxes would have occurred at times of the year when field work was impossible.

One person in Marshfield who kept a few foxes and who made money from the fox boom was William J. Scott. William was a farmer and a crafts person who built largely wooden threshing machines, grain cleaners and horse treadmills. However, in 1922 he contracted with one of the leading figures in the Island’s fox industry, Colonel Daniel A. MacKinnon, to build fox houses for his ranch. William left the following price list for a fox house.22

Lumber $ 1 0.50 2 windows 2.25 Hinges & Latch 0.75 Nails 1.50 Felt 1.50 Frame Lumber 2.00 Paint 1.00

~175-

Wire 0. I 0 Finish Boards 1.50 Building LQQQ Total ,8 M

A complete wired pen which would have been attached to the house was priced at $30.

A lot of the initial money made on foxes was by the selling of breeding stock to other ranches in Canada, the United States and overseas. Thus William also made shipping crates for Canada/US movement and for foreign shipments priced at $29 and $20 respectively.

Changes in fur fashion and the 1939—45 war were virtually the end of fox farming in Marshfield.

Land Value

How has the value of farms in Marshfield changed over the past two hundred years? One difficulty in estimating the change is what currency to use and the knowledge that the dollar of 1900 had a different purchasing power than the dollar in the year 2000. The standard chosen for comparison was an ounce of gold . 23

In 1808 Donald McBeath purchased the 100 acres of Rosevale farm for £200 or the equivalent of 0.387 ounces of gold per acre or $157.00 (2000 dollars) per acre. Neil Stewart in 1844 purchased the 184 acres of the Rosetta Farm including all buildings and attachments for £913/6/5 or for 1.16 ounces of gold per acre approximately equal to $415.00 (2000 dollars) per acre. By 1911 the 126 acres of land and buildings on the Saint Cuthbert Farm was valued at $3,800.00 or 1.45 ounces of gold per acre, $590.00 per acre at current prices. Today farm land in Marshfield is valued at $2,800.00 per acre or 6.88 ounces of gold per acre.

Conclusion

As it has over the past two and a half centuries, agriculture and farming will continue to evolve in Marshfield and change to meet new situations. What will remain constant will be the people ready to recognize new opportunities in agriculture and embrace the necessary changes. In doing so they will have much in common with those who first settled the land.

Submitted by Peter Boswall