Winnipeg’s Maw and Co. offered several poultry breeds, including Light Brahmas, Dark Brahmas, Black Cochins, Wyandottes, Black Javas, Plymouth Rocks, Partridge Cochins, Black Spanish, Mammoth Pekin ducks and Chinese geese.

A column titled “Dairy don’ts” had this advice:

• Don’t fool around the bull pen with 10-penny nails, use 20s.
• Don’t think the cow will be your friend unless you are her friend.
• Don’t think because cows drink out of a mud puddle that it is good enough for them.
• Don’t let your bull become fat as a seal or half-starve him. Take the middle course.
• Don’t drive them from the pasture with a dog; it saves time but wastes milk and cow.
• Don’t imagine you can strain manure out of the milk; keep them separate and save trouble.
• Don’t handle the bull without a strong staff. “Perfectly gentle,” is he? Then keep enough cash on hand to pay for funeral expenses.

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The issue contained an extensive article on dairying, beginning with plans for a creamery, which could be built for an estimated $1,800. However, it recommended that before construction, the potential operator should canvass the area to “see how many cows you are reasonably sure of getting.” It was recommended that tanks to hold cans should be built near a well or spring for cooling. There were also instructions on skimming and tempering cream, and suggestions for resolving the problem of cream not being churned successfully into butter.

Another article encouraged Manitoba farmers to follow the example of U.S. counterparts and to get more into the poultry business.

“It is frequently said, and often with good reason, that times are dull, and if people would better their condition they should work diligently to that end… our American cousins keep their eyes open and are ready for any opportunity to make money and better their condition. We commend them for this.”

One tip for successful management was “See that your birds have a good run, so that they may be able to take sufficient exercise. Idleness leads to mischief in the case of hens, as in the case of a ‘higher class of bipeds.’”

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An article in the issue praised the success of a test of Russian wheat. Mr. George Roddie of Brandon Hills reported that “The sample of Northern Russian Wheat came to hand on May 15. I hesitated about sowing it so late, but made the attempt on the 17th. To my surprise it was up and ready for cutting on August 25, fully a fortnight earlier than Red Fyfe.”

It was also reported that “The first shipment of cattle from the Canadian Northwest ranches will be made shortly. There are now being loaded at Calgary 45 cars of cattle, aggregating about 900 head, and they will soon pass through the city en route for Montreal, from which port they will be shipped to Liverpool. These cattle are from the Cochrane ranches. This is an important event to the cattle trade, as these cattle will be the vanguard of what it is hoped will be the chief export from the western portions of these territories.”

A report on the local wheat market said that deliveries were slow since threshing continued, “except at such points as Gretna and Morden, where the Mennonites come early to the market and turn their crop into money.” Prices continued at “60 cents on the Winnipeg market, and 52 to 56 at outside points, with two or three cents lower for inferior grades.”

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Another article suggested the use of Galloway cattle hides as a replacement for buffalo robes, “which can no more be got.”

According to an editorial reprinted from the Ottawa Journal, Ontario Agriculture Minister Drury had delivered a speech in which he worried about the tendency of “higher education” to encourage farmers’ sons to stray off to the cities to earn their living. This was “simply one feature of the present age to materialism — to the worship of money and self-indulgence. The rugged independence which is the glory of the farmer is becoming less enviable to men than it used to be.”

The editorial writer took some exception, observing that there was no reason that farmers could not live the life of a gentleman. He suggested the problem was due to the average farmer working harder than his hired men, and suggested Mr. Drury encourage education in management skills so farmers would realize “the full value of the principle which successful businessmen keep in view — the management for themselves, the drudgery for others.”

The issue also reported the death at age 55 of John Ogilvie, who had managed the branch of the family milling company in Winnipeg.

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“A few of these cattle are now in this province, and doubtless the rapid growth of the dairy interests will see an equal interest in this desirable breed and its grades.”

The issue quoted an editorial from the Northwestern Miller in Minnesota.

“It may be sad news to the London miller that a large number of Manitoba farmers have formally requested the government to assist them in securing soft spring wheat for seed. They assert that there are varieties which yield well and which will ripen fully 10 days earlier than the Scotch fife now grown, so that all danger from early frosts will be averted. This may be true, but we assure our Manitoba neighbours that they will do well to let soft spring wheat alone. They may get an earlier harvest and a fair-size crop, but the wheat will rarely sell for more than Scotch fife which is not too badly frosted, while it will smut and absorb other diseases, so that in the end they will suffer greatly from the proposed change.”

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