The St. Johns herald., 1922-06-01
ION EASY STREET.
Women "FarmeretteS" Make
 Money in Western Canada.
Many Are Taking Advantage of the Opportunity Offered by the Fer
 tile Land and Fine Climate.

In many parts of Western Canada are to be found women owning and running farms for themselves. and what Is more, making them pay. May Hazlett, an English girl, who lived on farm in the TouchwOod hills, in Sas- katchewan, for the past four years, looking after her stock and cultivating her land, Is one of these. The farm was originally her brothers homestead. at which time Miss Hazlett was a stenOgrapher. Her brother was killed while fighting with the Canadian forces at Vimy Ridge NeIghbOrs advised Miss HaZlett to sell the farm, but she decided that she was tired of the "eternal pounding" and became farm erette.
 Mrs. Mary J. Blackburn. a pioneer woman farmer of Alberta. has just added 160 acres to her farm near Hardisty. Coming from Eastern Can ada, Mrs. Blackburn homesteaded a quarter section in 1902. She had two HOlStein heifers, bull, and SIT in cash. She lived in a tent the first summer and in a sod shack in the winter. Her first crop put her, as she tells the story, lon Easy street" |" In ten years she had a herd of 60 pure-bred Holstein cattle and was Op- erating a prosperous dairy A fine residence has supplanted the sod hut 'I milked my cows, raised my cattle, eat hay and stacked it all by myself" said Mrs. Blackburn. ''I started on bare prairie with no money, and made good I worked hard, but the expert ance was wonderful.
 It has generally been conceded that farming is mans job. It has long been considered that wOman's place on the farm was in the house, with few attendant duties, looking after the chickens and the garden. But times are changing.
 DemOnstrative of the present femi- nine initiative, there are two young ladies farming extensively and with good profit too, in Western Canada. Some years ago a family located 16O- acre farm in the Oak Lake district, Manitoba. Later the father died, leav- Ing his two daughters and aged wife a mortgaged quarter section. Instead of selling the effects and moving to town to take employment, the girls decided to work the place.
 While the mother looked after the household duties the daughters did the farm work. They did the blowing, har- rowing, seeding, having, harvesting, stocking, feeding and other farm Oper- ations. Except at threshing time, the getting out of wood, the help of man was never sought. Instead of 16O- acre place, with seven horses and ten cattle, which they started with, they have a 1,12O-acre farm, twenty-five head of heavy horses and nearly hun- dred head of cattle, mostly pure-bFeds. Their farm buildings. equipment and well-kept fields would be objects of pride to the owners in any country.
 Their accomplishment has not only been profitable but pleasant, and they have enjoyed every home advantage. They are two entertaining and bright girls, and have all the feminine charm of womanhood. Their manlike Occupa- ton has not given them a masculine character or appearance, as some of the older generations might imagine. Their gallant struggle for success sig nifies the truth in the oft-repeated p,aviu of Western Canada. "A little assistance and the soil. with its natur- al richness and Gods sunshine will soon pay for the land itself"
 If you wish to learn more of what Western Canada can do, write for a copy of Canada West" which will be mailed ito you free by your nearest Canadian government agent.-Adver- tisement