The Farm Prize Competitions. 199 



Another feature of general interest noted was the fact that 

 almost all the best woods containing a large proportion of larch 

 were situated on a slope having a northern aspect, and the trees 

 had been set out at a wider distance than is usually found to be 

 the case ; 5 and even 6 ft. spacing was found to give very 

 satisfactory results in the case of the larch woods, and in 

 addition there was a considerable saving in plants and planting. 

 The Judges take this opportunity of expressing their 

 indebtedness to the Secretary, and also to the Chairman of the 

 Forestry Committee, for the arrangements made by them, which 

 worked throughout without a hitch. They also desire to thank 

 the owners of the many estates visited for the trouble they took 

 in conveying them to the various woods inspected, and to the 

 agents and foresters who showed them round and gave them all 

 information relating to the entries. 



W. B. Hayblock. 



J. McLaren. 



THE FARM PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 



For the third time the county of Shropshire has been the 

 centre of the Society's farm prize competitions. These com- 

 petitions owed their origin to the initiative of the late Mr. 

 James Mason, ^ of Eynsham Hall, near Witney, Oxon., who 

 offered a hundred-guinea cup for the best managed farm 

 within a district which comprised, approximately, the counties 

 of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and a small part of Berk- 

 shire, in the year 1870. The prize was offered in connection 

 with the Oxford Meeting of the Society, and the Coancil 

 undertook to settle the conditions of the competition, and 

 also to provide a second prize of 50?. Twenty-one farmers 

 competed, and so obvious was the utility of the venture, 

 that in connection with the Wolverhampton Meeting in the 

 following year, the landowners of Shropshire and Staffordshire 

 subscribed two first prizes of lOOZ. each for the best arable 

 and the best dairj^ farm, whilst the Society provided second 

 prizes of 50Z. in each case. Local subsci-ibers raised a further 

 50?. to be placed at the disposal of the Judges, to reward any 

 special feature of excellence in the management of any of the 

 competing farms. The Society framed the conditions of the 

 competition, and bore all expenses. Again the competition 

 was a great success, no fewer than twenty-three entries being 

 made in the arable class, whilst the number of those in the 

 dairy class is not recorded. 



'For an account of Mr. Mason's farming experiments, see Journal H.A.S.E., 

 Vol. 65, page 106. 



