Building The Approaches And Foundation 17

The Loyalists who came to this area in 1784 were more conscious of the urgency to get clear titles to their lands than the early settlers were. They knew they could get free land in Nova Scotia and were not content to remain here as tenants. Those who stayed were active in the Land Reform Movement. The early farmers of Wilmot Valley who could not buy their land until the land question was settled had to accept the yearly payment of rent as part of the cost of their farms. The Rent Books of Hodgson and Pope bear record of the collection of these rents and shows that they, as agents were willing to accept livestock and produce as payment.

Daniel Dickieson in 1859 got a credit of 5 pounds for “a cow that was sent to Newfoundland" and James Lefurgey in 1862 received an allowance for “1 Firkin of butter". Another tenant delivered “3 cows, 1 ox, 1 pig and the rest in cash.”

One family who had emigrated from England in 1837 settled on a farm in Lot 20. The land here was hilly and stony and a hand-dug well had failed to provide a good supply of water for daily use. As a result water had to be hauled from a brook which was some distance away. When this man heard that land could be bought in Lots 19 and 25, he visited the area and was greatly taken with the Wilmot River. The little brooks flowing into it reminded him of his home in England so he decided to move from Lot 20.

In 1862 the cost of his newly acquired farm land was the subject of an argument when the tenant farmers and the proprietors or their agents appeared before the “Commissioners of the Land Purchase Act, 1875". One farmer from Lot 20 stated.i.“I consider Lot 19 worth more than Lot 20. It is low but not wet or swampy, except a small portion. We think that low land is better than stony". Another farmer, also from Lot 20 agreed that a farm would cost more when it was near a shipping centre and stated:... “1 was there at the sale...lt is ten miles nearer Summerside. In the fall we can hardly set at all. At Kensington oats were three cents less than at Their deeds are written on the land,

The quality of the land and the nearness to shipping were two factors that affected the cost of a farm but another advantage of equal importance was the availability of mussel mud. This fertilizer with its high value as a soil builder could be had for the digging in nearby Bedeque Bay. The cost of this fertilizer was not measured in dollars and cents but in the cold and strenuous hours of labor spent in procuring it. But there were other hidden costs that were not always recorded in the carefully written deeds and agreements.

In the case of Samuel Burrows, his cost for 100 acres in 1862 was the down payment of 100 pounds with an agreement to make two additional payments of 100 pounds each, one in 1863 and the other in 1864 and pay