The Farm Prize Competitions. 211 



Mr. Nunnerley's custom o.f cutting the creeping thistle in July 

 will not commend itself to many people as the best method 

 of eradicating this pestilential weed. As i-egards manuring, 

 the meadow land receives, when possible, about 10 tons of 

 farmyard manure, together with 5 cwt. of bone-meal or kainit. 

 The pasture receives 5 cwt. of steamed bones every fourth 

 year. 



As regards the live-stock, the Judges remarked upon the 

 exceptional quality of the horses, both workers and young ones. 

 Mr. Nunnerley keeps a large herd (nearly 200) of milking cows 

 of the Shorthorn type. The main object is the manufacture of 

 cheese, but the tenant makes a great point of keeping a young 

 herd, which enables him to sell out a great quantity of down- 

 calvers to the suburban farmers who sell warm milk in the big 

 industrial centres. To combine this with cheese making is 

 unusual, but certainly ingenious, for it joins a profitable branch 

 of dairy woi*k with what is the most profitable form of stock 

 raising at the present time, for nothing pays better to grow just 

 now than large milking cows carrying a good carcass. It is a 

 very great pity that no milk records are kept, for if Mr. 

 Nunnerley is correct in estimating the average yield per cow at 

 over 700 gallons he has certainly solved the problem of how to 

 establish a dual-purpose herd, for he showed two very fine 

 home-bred steers, thick-fleshed and excellent butcher's animals, 

 and his walls displayed many prize cards for home-bred steers 

 exhibited at the local shows. With the cows was running a 

 very beautiful Norbury-bred bull of the famous Winsome tribe, 

 but there seemed some risk in using him in the absence of 

 milk records on his mother's side, for this pedigree contains a 

 lot of Scotch blood, which is very often destructive in a dairy 

 herd. But the bull had no exaggerated beef points, and was 

 only bought because his dam had a reputation (not a record) 

 for milk. 



The calves only get new milk for a month and then go on 

 to whey and milk substitutes. This shortage of new milk is 

 reflected in their condition, for they look very poor when 

 young, but as soon as they are weaned the good grass of the dis- 

 trict seems to enable them to grow out and put on a bloom. They 

 are dressed three times in the hot months with McDougal's 

 smear to stop gadding, and in the rare event of the appearance 

 of a warble the same reinedy is applied. 



Mr. Nunnerley makes cheese all the year round, for he finds 

 that by use of a starter, and care in the making, cheese made 

 from cattle fed on haj', cake, and roots in the sheds, gives every 

 satisfaction to his customers. These are the Co-operative 

 Wholesale Society, of Manchester, to whom the cheese are 

 delivered by barge, an excellent mode of transport for this class 



