en miles west of
Toronto. Before work could be commenced, however, the life of the
legislature closed and a new government came into office in 1871 with
Archibald McKellar as commissioner of Agriculture and Arts. New
governments feel called upon to promote new measures. There were rumours
and suggestions that the soil of the Mimico farm was productive of
thistles and better adapted to brick-making than to the raising of
crops. Also the location was so close to Toronto that it was feared that
the attractions of the city would tend to make the students discontented
with country life. For various reasons a change of location was deemed
desirable, and a committee of farmer members of the legislature was
appointed. Professor Miles, of the Michigan Agricultural College, was
engaged to give expert advice; other locations were examined, and
finally Moreton Lodge Farm, near Guelph, was purchased. After some
preliminary difficulties, involving the assistance of a sheriff or
bailiff, possession was obtained, and the first class for instruction in
agricultural science and practice, consisting of thirty-one pupils in
all, was opened on June 1, 1874, with William Johnston as rector or
principal. Thus was established the Ontario School of Agriculture, now
known as the Ontario Agricultural College. Its annual enrolment has
grown to over fifteen hundred, and it is now recognized as the
best-equipped and most successful institution of its kind in the British
Empire. Its development along practical lines and its recognition as a
potent factor in provincial growth were largely due to Dr James Mills,
who was appointed president of the college in 1879, and filled that
position until January 1904, when he was appointed to the Dominion Board
of Railway Commissioners. Under his direction farmers' institutes were
established in Ontario in 1884. Dr Mills was succeeded by Dr G. C.
Creelman as president.

The next important step in agricultural advancement was the appointment
in 1880 of the Ontario Agricultural Commission 'to inquire into the
agricultural resources of the Province of Ontario, the progress and
condition of agriculture therein and matters connected therewith.' The
commission consisted of S. C. Wood, then commissioner of Agriculture
(chairman), Alfred H. Dymond (secretary), and sixteen other persons
representative of the various agricultural interests, including the
president and ex-president of the Agricultural and Arts Association,