And now let us see how the population was changing, as to its distribution between rural and urban, during these years. First, we shall give the assessed population.
| Rural | Urban | |
|---|---|---|
| 1884 | 1,117,880 | 636,187 |
| 1885 | 1,126,554 | 658,406 |
| 1890 | 1,117,533 | 800,041 |
| 1895 | 1,109,013 | 848,377 |
| 1900 | 1,094,246 | 919,614 |
| 1905 | 1,059,379 | 1,042,881 |
| 1909 | 1,049,240 | 1,240,198 |
The Canadian Pacific Railway opened up the wheat lands of the West in 1886. At that time the rural population was nearly double the urban; in 1905 they were about equal; and six years later the urban population of Ontario exceeded the rural.
The Dominion census figures are as follows:
| Rural | Urban | |
|---|---|---|
| 1911 | 1,194,785 | 1,328,489 |
| 1901 | 1,246,969 | 935,978 |
| Increase | .... | 392,511 |
| Decrease | 52,184 | .... |
It will thus be seen that during the past twenty-five years there has been a steady increase in the consumers of food products in Ontario and a slight decrease in the producers of the same. The surplus population of the farms has gone to the towns and cities of Ontario and to the western provinces. Now for a moment let us follow these people to the West. Many of them have gone on the land to produce wheat. Wheat for the European market has been their principal product, therefore they in turn have become consumers of large quantities of food that they do not themselves produce but must obtain from farmers elsewhere. But not all who have gone West have become farmers. The Dominion census of 1911 gives the following statement of population for the provinces and districts west of Lake Superior:
| Rural | Urban | |
|---|---|---|
| 1911 | 1,059,681 | 681,216 |
| 1901 | 446,050 | 199,467 |
| Increase | 613,631 | 481,749 |
The western provinces are generally considered to be almost purely agricultural, and yet the percentage increase of urban population has been nearly double the percentage increase of rural population. And this rapidly growing urban population also has demanded food products. Their own farmers grow wheat and oats and barley. British Columbia produces fruit for her own people and some surplus for the prairie provinces. There is some stock-raising, but the rapid extension of wheat areas has interfered with the great stock ranches. From out of the Great West, therefore, there has come an increasing demand for many food products. Add to this the growing home market in Ontario, and, keeping in mind that the West can grow wheat more cheaply than Ontario, it will be understood why of recent years the Ontario farmer has been compelled to give up the production of wheat for export. His line of successful and profitable work has been in producing to supply the demands of his own growing home market, and the demands of the rapidly increasing people of the West, both rural and urban, and also to share in the insatiable market of Great Britain. Another element of more recent origin has been the small but very profitable market of Northern Ontario, where lumbering, mining, and railroad construction have been so active in the past five or six years.
The result of all this has been a great increase in fruit production. Old orchards have been revived and new orchards have been set out. The extension of the canning industry also is most noticeable, and has occasioned the production of fruits and vegetables in enormous quantities. Special crops such as tobacco, beans, and sugar beets are being grown in counties where soil and climatic conditions are favourable. The production of poultry and eggs is also receiving more attention each succeeding year. The growth of cities is creating an increasing demand for milk, and the production of factory-made butter and cheese is also increasing, as the following figures for Ontario from the Dominion census prove:
| Butter | Cheese | |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 7,559,542 lb. | 131,967,612 lb. |
| 1910 | 13,699,153 " | 157,631,883 " |