26 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Haymaking in St. 
     
     Chrysostome around 
     
     1925. Philimon and 
     
     Roséline Arsenault and 
     
     their family are busy 
     
     making hay. In the early 
     
     part of the century, the 
     
     economy of the Region 
     
     was still based on farm- 
     
     ing. (Eloi Arsenault 
     
     Collection) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Economic Life 
     
    
   
   
    
     For a long time, farming constituted the life-line of the 
     
     Evangeline Region. For the first 50 years, the inhabitants 
     
     subsisted on farming supplemented by fishing and hunting. 
     
     A significant shift took place around 1860 when they began 
     
     participating in the market economy by selling farm prod- 
     
     ucts and later fish products. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Farming 
     
    
   
   
    
     The main crops grown by the early settlers in the Evangeline 
     
     Region were potatoes, wheat and oats. By the 1840s, wheat 
     
     production had declined due to various diseases, whereas 
     
     oats and potatoes continued to dominate the market until 
     
     the end of the 19th century. By this time, farmers shifted, as 
     
     they were doing throughout the Island, to the dairy industry. 
     
     A cheese factory was built in Abram’s Village in 1896 and a 
     
     butter factory in Wellington in 1914. The economy of the 
     
     Evangeline Region continued to be predominantly agricul- 
     
     tural until the early 1950s. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Around 1940, the average farm comprised about 60 acres 
     
     (24 hectares) 45 of which were cultivated: 20 in timothy and 
     
     clover; 4 in row crops (turnips, beets and corn); 16 in oats or 
     
     mixed grain; and 5 in potatoes. Fifteen acres were reserved 
     
     for pasture. The average Acadian farmer owned 3 horses, 6 
     
     cows, 15 sheep, 6 pigs and 100 chickens.