A History of Elmsdale, Elmsdale West, and Brockton, Prince Edward Island

Eleanor Meek Coll.

' William MacArthur with his binder

machines cut and threshed the grain right in the fields and blew it into a hopper. When the hopper was filled it was emptied into a truck and taken home to the farm granary. Later, in the 19703, self-propelled combines Were used. A truck would take the grain to the newly erected grain elevators, such as the one we have in Elmsdale today built by the PEI Government (see separate article).

The bigger farmers around this vicinity farmed with nine horses that made three 3- horse teams. These teams of horses were used for tilling the land. First, plowing was done with a one-furrow plow equipped With a coulter but no wheels. The land was afterwards harrowed about seven times with a spike harrow. Later they would plow the sod then disk it to chop it up finer and level itoff, and finally harrow to smooth the land for cultivation. Then the seed Would be planted.

FENCE VIEWERS, CONSTABLES AND REEVES

N 0w that the land was cleared and crops were planted it became necessary to have a law that compelled farmers to put up proper fences. In this area the school district appomted a “reeve”, Who acted like a sheriff. This reeve had to enforce the fence

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