when we were walking in the woods one evening and it got dirty. We set the axe against a tree. The next Spring it was covered in snow and after that the sand moved in over it burying it. So, it was underneath the sand. That was twenty years ago.” The wind can carry the sand faster than any backhoe can take it. It took it all out. cleaned it right out, right to the stump, and there was the axe still

standing. (58)

In the last fifty years the farming scene has undergone significant changes. The number of small family farms has been reduced considerably and farms have become more specialized. This decrease in numbers has been paralleled with an increase in size of the average farm. The mechanization of farms has also led to the increase in farm size and productivity. Potatoes are now sown for seed and not just tablestock. The land has also provided many new avenues of farming.

Blueberries, Strawberries and Christmas Trees

There have been many new and specialized uses for the land in the past fifty years. The growing, buying, and selling of Christmas trees expanded into a very successful local business for the Milligan family. Within our area, farmers have also grown blueberries and strawberries, both for local and export markets.

Claire Logan who was attended school in St. Peter's South School recalls visiting the nearby Christmas Tree yard and watching them grade the Christmas Trees and being happy when she was given some of the colorful ribbon by the workers. (59) At this time, Joe Lewis was buying Christmas trees. In 1954 Bill and Lil Milligan moved to St. Peters from Western PEI. Bill had been working in the Christmas tree business for a few years and decided to move to Eastern PEI as the Christmas trees were becoming more difficult to find in the Western end of the Island. His son, Frank Milligan, recalls the initial stages of the business his

father established:

He bought trees down here for a number of years. When we first started buying down here he set up a yard right where the Irving Service Station is today, and he was there for just one year. Then he moved down to beside the United Church. He moved there because it was easier for the people hauling in. He bought trees therefor a number of years. I created quite a bit of work around St. Peters. He would buy trees from the many cutters down around Dingwells Mills, specifically Morris, Bobby, Roy, and Stanley Brown He also bought from Roy and Harrod MacDonald and Joe MacLeod up in Goose River. (60)

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