Curator's note | From 1914 to 1922 a Better Farming Train (BFT) toured the province providing lectures and demonstrations and presenting exhibits on matters pertaining to agriculture. Funded by the Agricultural Instruction Act, equipped jointly by the Department of Agriculture and College of Agriculture, staffed by the University, the BFTs were operated free of charge by the railways. Consisting of between fourteen to seventeen cars they toured the province for several weeks each summer. The train was divided into five sections: Livestock, Field Husbandry, Boys' and Girls, Household Science, Poultry, and Farm Mechanics. A converted flat car acted as a platform for the display and demonstration of the "well-selected" horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry. Each section usually contained a lecture car accompanied by one or more demonstration cars. Specific regions of the province were targeted each year. The train made two or more stops daily, advertising that programmes were "to begin promptly according to Railway Time" and "to be on time".Children four and under were cared for by "competent nurses" in the Nursery Car. The trains attracted large audiences because they focused attention on the problems of agriculture during years of rapid development on the prairies. The train was designed to help in every phase of farm life. Live stock topics, field crop problems, mechanization and the work of the home and the school were all given attention. In 1914 over 40,000 people attended over a five week period. By 1922 over a quarter of the province's population had visited the BFT. |
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Title | Railway Workers on a Handcar Near the Better Farming Train |
Date | 1920 |
Physical extent | 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.7 x 17.78 cm |
Scope and content | Railroad workers pose on a railway handcar as some children look on. |
Repository | University of Saskatchewan Archives |
Fonds/collection | Photograph Collection |
Retrieval information | A-1527 |
Occupation(s) |
Agricultural workers |
Theme(s) |
University of Saskatchewan Agriculture & Food Industry Transportation & Delivery |
Database ID | 196 |