. . _L,_ . 
     
    
   
   
    
     . DESTINY OF THE FAMILY FARM 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     I spoke today with a disheartened friend--a man who loves his land and knows his 
     
     farming days are numbered. He is discouraged and filled with despair but he is 
     
    

    
     not alone in his plight. A couple of decades ago there were two dozen farmers 
     
    

    
     from his place to mine; now there are three. Succession, that healing process 
     
    

    
     of nature that follows man's failure to wrest a living from the land, has started 
     
     on most of those farms. Some of the land has fallen into the hands of speculators 
     
     while much of the remainder is owned by a rich man from outside the province. 
     
    

    
     What has happened to these farmers, their pride and possessions, their community? 
     
     The answers are not pleasant, nor are they appreciated or understood by governments 
     
     (at least they have been practically ignored by our elected representatives). 
     
    
   
   
    
     According to my neighbour, most of those displaced landowners IIhung on” for many 
     
     years as the wealth, accumulated for generations, gradually bled away. First 
     
    

    
     there was hardly enough money for fertilizers and lime, then there was little 
     
    

    
     money for luxuries like fencing and paint, eventually with no money to repair 
     
     archaic machinery even their children had to forsake that impoverished life. 
     
    

    
     The decline of the family farm would, by itself, have been a harsh blow to our rural 
     
     communities, but, combined with errors like our centralized school system and large 
     
     scale vertical integration, a seriouscripplingof community life has resulted. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Normally extinction appears to those species that are too specialized but the rules 
     
     of nature seldom apply to potato farmers on P.E.|. Is it because the large 
     
     specialized operations “make a mint“ when potato prices are high but rely on 
     
     public coffers when prices decline? How long can those huge fields withstand 
     
     severe land erosion and still produce? Is it wise to allow the extinction of the 
     
     family farm on P.E.l.? If we do what sort of heritage are we leaving for future 
     
     generations? I sincerely hope that government policies will change so that 
     
     farmers, like my friend, can leave his land to his family and not to L.D.C. or 
     
    

    
     some ruthless Speculator! 
     
    
   
   
    
     - Daryl Guignion 
     
     Biology Department 
     
     University of P.E.l. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Canadian Nature Federation 
     
     - Renewals 
     
    
   
   
    
     it's time to renew your membership to Canadian Nature Federation for 1976. The 
     
     Federation is just pulling itself out of a severe financial crunch, so it is 
     
     important that renewals for 1976 be prompt. Diane Griffin and l have devised a way 
     
     to beat the postal strikel Diane is going to Ottawa on December h and is planning 
     
     to visit the C.N.F. head office. If you take a cheque or money order payable to 
     
     “Canadian Nature Federation“ to the December 2 Natural History Society meeting or 
     
     get the cheque to us before the meeting, Diane will convey your renewals to 
     
    

    
     Ottawa. She will also try to obtain our October - December issues of Nature 
     
    

    
     Canada to bring back to P.E.|. 
     
    
   
   
    
     If you want to order from the C.N.F. Bookstore, you could prepare the order for her 
     
     to take up, and when postal service resumes, you will receive your order quickly. 
     
     Please inform any Canadian Nature Federation members of this arrangement. 
     
    
   
   
    
     — Kathy Martin 
     
     Biology Department 
     
     University of P.E.l. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     JUNIOR NATURALISTS CORNER 
     
    
   
   
    
     November Days 
     
    
   
   
    
     November days are here again! 
     
     Cold and frosty with the wind. 
     
     I love to run and scamper about on a November day! 
     
     It's such a thrill to jump in snow banks up to our 
     
     necks. 
     
     Come in frozen cold but we don't mind that on a 
     
     November day. 
     
     Why don't you come out and play on a cold November 
     
     day? 
     
     - Wendy Connelly 
     
     Grade 5 
     
     Marshfield School