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families on their holdings. They cared for the land with crop rotations and the application of mussel mud harvested in the winter from the river bottoms. They conducted mixed fann- ing which offered some stability as commodity markets fluc- tuated. The community was close enough to the shipping port of Summerside to access the export market. The estab- lishment of a railway station at Miscouche also increased accessibility to outside markets. Membership in agricultural societies led progressive farmers of the community to try new commodities and new approaches to farming. Purebred herds of livestock were the objective of many farmers in the area and fox ranching was introduced with a degree of success.

The farmers of Lot 16 had their own cheese factory until the 19305. Most farms maintained a woodlot for heating the family home, and for lumber needs. Due to the self-suffic- iency of the farming community, many world events such as

war and depression, while destroying markets, didn’t carry the negative impact they held for

“In the forty years between 1881 and 1921, the number of farms on P.E.I. decreased by only 72. There was a decrease of 6,366 in the next forty years. In the next

fifteen years, there was

an additional decrease of 4281.”

The Past 75 771:: Future: Remit/ting Rural Scary and Social Change. Errol Sharpe, 1991, p. 63.

urban areas. In rural areas the barter system never really died. Farmers worked back and forth with each other as a labour source.

Once Island farms were carved from the forest and brought to self-sufficiency, many social scien- tists theorize that nothing changed until the Prince Edward Island Comprehensive Development Plan was signed in 1969 by the Provincial and Federal governments. Farmers were then encouraged to produce on the terms dictated by the marketplace. Mixed farming, which was popular in Lot 16, was discouraged in favour of single market commodity production. As the land of Lot 16 was suited for dairying, many small farmers stayed in this busi— ness and expanded with the introduction of the quota system.

Other farmers continued with mixed farming. The late twentieth century brought about the

most noticeable change in the Lot 16 farming community as aging farmers began to sell their properties and the low

GROWTH OF A COMMUNITY