Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 20.
Mackenzie King the Farmer
George F. Henderson
While Mackenzie King had been acquiring property at Kingsmere since 1903, he does not appear to have considered farming operations there until the winter of 1926. By the end of December 1926, King was just completing the negotiations for the purchase of additional property which would build up his holdings at Kingsmere to about three hundred acres. On December 30 he wrote in his diary:
The more I think of it the more I believe it wd pay me to keep a man & his wife & have a sort of little farm out there. — Might go in for horse & cart to do rough work, a cow & pigs & chickens & vegetables & apples — enough to meet expenses at all events. It wd be a real interest as well. [December 30, 1926].1
King had some knowledge of farming from his childhood at Woodside where the King family lived from 1886 to 1893. There his family had kept a horse, a cow, some pigs, and some chickens. The young Mackenzie King had helped with the care of the animals by milking the cow, helping to feed the chickens and assisting with the gardening. He sold vegetables from their garden and shared the receipts with his mother who purchased the seeds.7
Early in April, 1927 he completed the purchase of the property at Kingsmere. At the same time he proceeded with the development of his farm. He happened to meet James McBurnie, a sheep farmer who had lived on the Chelsea Road for some time. King discovered that McBurnie was just selling his farm and would have to find a new place for his sheep. King liked the sheep farmer from the beginning. "Wd be a delightful man." he wrote, “to have as an overseer & farmer." He added: “It would make Kingsmere a different place to feel he was there & looking after everything." [April 1, I927].
On April 2 McBurnie visited Kingsmere and with the Prime Minister and his friends, Godfroy and Joan Patteson, looked over the property just being acquired by King. In their discussions King learned that it would likely be necessary to buy hay and feed for the sheep. McBurnie thought that it would be possible to raise one hundred ewes and their lambs on the farm. He believed that King would be able to clear about $1200 a year from the sheep. King confided to his diary that he was not really concerned at making a substantial profit because he would have to hire a man to keep the place in shape anyway. "There wd be an immense comfort in having a man & his wife in charge of the property all of the time." He added: “I have about decided to purchase sheep, horse, cow, cart etc. at once, if I can secure the man at decent figure and go ahead for this year at least." [April 2, 1927].
On the following day King visited the McBurnie farm and saw the sheep, cattle and horses. The sheep did not quite match the vision his imagination had created. He was surprised at the size and appearance of the sheep: “They were very large animals. I was surprised at their size, they were too less beautiful than I had thought sheep were." [April 3, 1927].
King and McBurnie agreed upon a salary of $60.00 a month plus $10.00 to be paid to a boy who had articled to him. King also decided to purchase fifty sheep at $20.00 apiece. "it is a risk but I believe it is worth taking to have this man to look after Kingsmere property generally & run a farm for me, — to have fresh eggs, lambs, vegetables etc. is likely to be a profitable investment." On April 15 (Good Friday) King visited his new farm property. "It was my first day,” he wrote, "at my own farm. I felt a great happiness in it." [April 15, 1927].
William R. Motherwell, the Minister of Agriculture and his deputy minister, J. H. Gisdale, visited the new farm on April 19th. They explained to King that his farm was an ideal area for sheep pasture. The only danger appeared to be prowling dogs at night.
The Prime Minister took his renewed interest in farming very seriously. He hired a neighbour to begin building fences around his new farm. McBurnie began working the soil with a disking machine. An area for the future orchard was being cleared and another area for a garden was being prepared.
He did, however, have to learn a great deal about farming and farm equipment. He learned about the techniques of cultivating and improving the soil by ploughing and fertilizing and picked stones from the fields. He learned the use of the various pieces of farm equipment. He received advice from Department of Agriculture staff and obtained pamphlets on farming from them.
On April 28 the fifty ewes he had purchased from McBurnie and a larger number of lambs were transported to the farm in two trucks. A near calamity almost occurred as the larger truck reached the farm:
The large truck nearly took fire on reaching the farm, fortunately (a guiding and protecting Providence) caused me to be near at hand with Joan [Patteson] & to see the fire near the exhaust, otherwise car, sheep & driver might all have gone up in flames.
Two horses and a cow arrived at the King estate at the same time without any apparent problem, but one of the sheep nearly broke its leg when it was being unloaded. The same day that the sheep arrived at his farm, King was told by McBurnie that two of the ewes would have to be killed because some sickness had developed due to the sudden change of weather. [April 28, I927]. At the same time King realized that he would have to train Pat, his Irish terrier, not to pay any attention to the sheep.
By the end of the day, King was having second thoughts about his farming venture, and realized that he might be over-developing his new farming operations. “I feel," he wrote, “I have taken on almost more than I should have." [April 28, 1927]. Despite his misgivings he recorded his delight at seeing the sheep on the fann: “It was a pretty sight seeing them on the farm grounds in the sunlight & to see McBurnie going among them with a lantern." [April 28, 1927].
On the following day King's diary provides us with this description of the sheep at Kingsmere:
It was a delight to see the sheep browsing about the grounds in the vicinity of the barns, the little lambs skipping and at play-jumping into the air all four feet once... It was a lovely sight and a not unpleasing sound to hear the little lambs calling for their mothers & the mothers replying... McBurnie in the midst with his bag of feed over his shoulder made a lovely pastoral scene, the sort of thing Jules Breton & Millais delighted in. [April 29, 1927].
A few days later he gave this description of the lambs: "I love to see the little creatures on the hill side. It is a reposeful picture in one‘s mind & they are as children." [May 9, 1927].
Within a few days, however, King was becoming aware of some of the hazards and problems of farming. On May l he arrived at Kingsmere to find the sheep “straying everywhere." Some of the sheep had gone onto an adjacent property and had eaten the owner's flowers. A few days later several lambs were killed by a neighbour's dog. The fencing around the farm was not progressing as he wished. All was not well with his preparations for raising chickens. Something had happened to the eggs in the incubator at the critical moment of hatching.
There were some positive developments in King's farming operations, however. A vegetable garden with a large variety of vegetables was developed. He was soon planting asparagus and fruit trees and the farm was producing a milk supply. Godfroy and Joan Patteson became customers — at ten cents a quart. He built a stable for the horses and a barn for the cow. He acquired some pheasants, built a chicken house and sold some chickens to neighbours. Of his farming activities, he wrote: “It is amusing even to me how I have drifted into this farming business, to have almost gone into it if by unseen compulsion.“ He added: “The expense is large but I can afford the outlay today, and it is laying up for tomorrow in a way that I believe will tell in dividends as well as health of body mind & peace of heart & soul.“ [July 8, 1927].
In July, 1927 King spoke at the opening of the Poultry Congress in Ottawa. Later he toured the exhibition with the Governor-General and his wife, Lord and Lady Willingdon. His diary contains this reaction to his tour: “It was the greatest possible surprise. I have seldom seen anything that has interested me as much. The exhibits were wonderful a delightful panorama of this particular industry in all its phases, in all parts of the country & Empire. I could not feel too proud of what I saw. It was thrilling." [July 26, l927].
King exhibited two hens and a rooster at the poultry congress. He noted that they “looked very fine." He added: "I was immensely taken with the whole business." [July 27, 1927]. Later that summer the orchard produced a good crop of apples and he was able to sell some of them.
At the end of nearly a year in these various farming activities, King began to have some second thoughts about the livestock aspect of his farming operations. He learned that a number of lambs had remained unsold on the farm from the previous year. He wrote: "I am a little doubtful about continuing the livestock end of Kingsmere. It is wiser to confine it to gardening." [March 31, 1928].
In May 1928 the sheep became infected and the flock and the pasture were condemned by the veterinarian. In addition there were ticks on the cow, the horses and the sheep. One of his staff suggested the possibility of acquiring more cattle. To this suggestion King wrote in his diary: “I said no more livestock for the present.“ [May 2, 1928].
King continued to expand his vegetable garden. Strawberries and raspberries were added, and an asparagus bed. In addition he decided to extend his orchard. It would contain fifty to one hundred apple, cherry, plum and currant trees and bushes.
The garden enabled King to provide his friends with fresh vegetables and fruit. Also it provided him with produce for his own use at Laurier House and Kingsmere. A memorandum in the King Papers written during this period outlined the nature of his plans for his farm. He wrote:
I am not anxious to keep many sheep, but wish to raise a few lambs each spring. The purpose of the farm is to keep my house in the city and my cottage in the country supplied, as nearly as possible the year round, with vegetables and eggs, and, during the summer, with milk and cream, and to some extent as opportunity offers, with butter.
He realized the limitations of the soil: "The land is not the best for farming on a large scale but supplies what is needed in the way of pasture. I should not attempt to raise grain or hay." King made it clear that his property was to be used “not for purposes of making profit and gain, but largely for recreation and health."3
In April, 1928 King sold the cow and horse to a neighbour. Three months later he decided to get rid of the sheep and most of the chickens and to limit his farming to pastures, fruits and vegetables. [June 16, I928]. He was able to include the flock of sheep in a land transaction with a neighbour which enabled him to acquire thirty acres of land including a waterfall.
His feelings about his farm varied during the busy summer season. In July. 1928 he recorded the delight he experienced when he saw the hay being raked on his farm: "the whole scene was a very lovely and restful one." [July 21, 1928]. Later in the summer, however, he questioned the size of the garden and in August, he noted that it had been planned "on much too large a scale." [August 28, 1928]. A few months later he wrote: "The farm has been a mistake, a costly experiment with more worry than pleasure & undue publicity." [November 4, 1928].
The final aspect of farming activities was the acquisition of some bees. King acquired the hives of bees in 1931. In 1932 the first honey from his bees (about sixty pounds) was produced. The visit of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and Mrs. Baldwin to Kingsmere provided the occasion for serving the first honey from his farm.
King's farming operations produced several benefits during the summer of 1932. He sold fifty boxes of raspberries one day in August, including some to a grocer in Ottawa.
The vegetable garden meant a great deal to King for two reasons. First, it pleased him to be able to give vegetables to his friends. Secondly, he was delighted to serve vegetables and fruit to his dinner guests. For example, on September 27, 1933 he wrote: “I brought in some melons — grown in the garden." [September 27, 1933]. King had raised poultry at Kingsmere for several years. They provided both meat and eggs for his table. By October, 1933, however, the fowl had developed active lesions of tuberculosis and he was advised to get rid of them.
By 1934 King had disposed of all his livestock and poultry. All that remained of his farming activities were his kitchen garden, orchard and beehives.4 Like all of the other aspects of his farming, problems with the bees also appeared. During the winter of 1944 all of the bees died. While he soon replenished his bee colony, it caused excitement on several occasions when bears raided the hives. He continued with the beehives, and remaining aspects of his farming operation until his death in 1950.
King took a great deal of interest in the development of his farm. His private papers in the National Archives of Canada contain many lists of equipment purchased and detailed accounts of the expenditures and receipts from the farm. There are drawings in his own hand for the garden and orchards. The King Papers also Contain numerous agricultural pamphlets on a variety of farming activities.
While several aspects of Mackenzie King's farming operations were less than successful, there is no doubt that the farming activities at Kingsmere were a pleasurable experience for the Prime Minister. They evoked memories of his boyhood days at Woodside. Secondly, King enjoyed planning farm buildings and watching the work being done on them. For example, on one occasion he wrote: “I get an infinite pleasure out of watching work of the kind.” [June 23, 1927}. On another occasion after he walked about the farm and watched work in progress he wrote: "How I delight in these rural and pastoral pursuits." [April 25, 192?]. Finally, the vegetable garden and orchards provided him with produce for his own use as well as for some of his friends.
As far as King's agricultural policy is concerned, J.W. Pickersgill has written that “King showed little interest in and less understanding of the farming community, its grievances and its aspirations." Mr. Pickersgill adds: "Faced, in 1921, with sixty ‘farm members‘ in Parliament who might have constituted the official opposition. King nevertheless had the political skill to conciliate them and gradually to win the majority of farmers over to the Liberal party. He achieved this result by supporting their leaders and adopting the policies they favoured but he never developed any ideas of his own about agricultural policy."5 While King's personal experience in small-scale farming had little effect on his political relations with farmers, he eventually succeeded in getting very wide support for his party from the farmers of this country.
Over the years, farming was an important facet of Kings fascinating life on his six hundred acre estate at Kingsmere. He was an idealistic farmer who does not appear to have adopted anything like a realistic approach to developing what was a fairly extensive farming operation there. While he generally had most of the facilities needed for the farm, he did not have the necessary staff for this varied operation. Furthermore, this overall lack of understanding of what was needed was reflected in his government's agricultural policy. While the success of Mackenzie King the farmer fell far short of his extraordinary success as politician, it remains an important chapter of his life and of the Kingsmere story.
Footnotes
- Throughout this article all quotations from Mackenzie King diary are included in the text in square brackets with the appropriate dates.
- For details of the King family at Woodside, see Robert MacGregor Dawson, William Lyon Mackenzie King: A political biography, 1874-1923. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 1958, pp. 9-11 and Murray William Nicolson, Woodside and the Victorian family of John King [Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1984).
- National Archives of Canada (NAC), William Lyon Mackenzie King Papers, MG 26, J10 Series, volume 28, folder 13, "Memorandum re country residence.“
- NAC, William Lyon Mackenzie King Papers, MG26, J 10 Series, folder 13, H.R. Henry (Secretary) to Rod Rachine, Jr., June 25, 1934.
- J.W. Pickersgill, “Mackenzie Kings political attitude and public policies: A personal impression“, in John English and J.O. Stubbs, editors, Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate, (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada. 1978), p. 19. The author is indebted to Robert A. Wardhaugh for drawing his attention to the comments by Pickersgill and for information about King's agricultural policy in general.