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Tlte Cmmtry GentlemaiUs Magazine 



softei breeds, is that they do not come to 

 maturit* so early, and consequently do not 

 yield the same quick return of capital, and 

 the objectx '^n is so far perfectly sound. 

 Therefore a ."owland farmer finds it more 

 profitable to breed and rear shorthorns or 

 polled cattle or crosses than Highland 

 cattle ; but a Highland farmer rears his West 

 Highlanders at little or no expense beyond 

 the value of the hill or meadow pasturage in 

 summer, a great deal of which is valueless 



otherwise, and of such meadow hay or straw 

 and turnips as they may get in winter, until 

 they are fit to send to market at six-quarters 

 or two years old ; and then he can afford to 

 sell them at such a price as will enable the 

 southern farmer to buy them and carry them 

 on to profit until they are fit for the knife. 

 They are not so well adapted, however, for 

 court or yard feeding as they are for the 

 open field or for tying up, and that is a dis- 

 advantage. 



FARMS AND COTTAGES IN CHESHIRE. 



THE following report has been presented 

 to the Cheshire Agricultural Society 

 by the judges (Messrs. Hornby and Finchett) 

 appointed to decide the awards for the best 

 cultivated farms and labourers' cottages and 

 gardens. 



" In presenting our report we wish to 

 express our regret that there are no claimants 

 for two of the three premiums offered for best 

 cultivated farms. This may be accounted 

 for partly on account of the very excessively 

 wet season, so unsuitable for arable cultiva- 

 tion, and partly on account of the scarcity 

 of labour. But we are glad to find that for 

 Premium No 2 there were no less than six 

 competitors, some of whom were very formid- 

 able rivals ; one a very stiff clay land farmer, 

 having his green crops creditable for cleanli- 

 ness to any farm in any season. Another had 

 half of his farm in tillage, with his green crops 

 tolerably clean, and the rest of his farm in 

 good order. Clean green crops are, in our 

 opinion, the foundation of good farming, and 

 too extensive a tillage on lands unsuited ought 

 to be avoided as much as possible. We 

 hope the desire of the society to foster emu- 

 lation may another year be rewarded with 

 good competition in all classes. We wish 

 there had been a second prize and a silver 

 medal to have been awarded to the two 

 claimants here referred to." 



Premium 2. To the resident tenant. 



principally dependent upon farming, of any 

 farm, not being less than 100 acres and not 

 exceeding 150 acres, who shall have the same 

 in the best and most complete state of man- 

 agement. Six competitors. — Awarded to Mr 

 John Barker, of Rushton, near Tarporley. 



" Mr Barker's farm contains 147 acres, and 

 is managed as a dairy and grazing farm, not 

 one-sixth being in tillage. The soil varies 

 much, from a nice sandy, with a little peaty 

 and loamy, to a very stift' clay. The stock 

 consists of 30 cows, 18 stirks and heifers, 10 

 calves, I bull, 11 pigs, and 29 sheep, 7 cows, 

 50 sheep, and 13 pigs sold off fat. The 

 cows and young stock are very well-bred and 

 coloury, neither care nor expense having been 

 spared to secure a very good stock ; the bull, a 

 very superior animal, with good pedigree, 

 brother to ' Royal Windsor.' Of the crops, 

 7 acres of wheat is a nice standing crop, well 

 headed, and likely to yield a fair produce- 

 10 of oats, very thick, going do\vn, cannot be 

 cut by machine, seeded down with a good 

 selection of grasses. Potatoes and turnips, 

 5j;4 acres, and not over strong in top, but 

 very clean, not a weed to be seen ; headlands 

 well fallowed, and sown with turnips. Of the 84^ 

 acres of pasture, 55 acres is one field, formerly 

 eight, a mile distant from homestead ; it pre- 

 sents a good herbage, the result of repeated 

 bonings. The mowing land of 37 acres is 

 also a great distance from the remainder of 



