The Farm Prize Competitions. 225 



The barley had been dressed with sulphate of ammonia, and 

 was a tremendous crop, but this manure might have been 

 omitted with advantage, for the crop was badly laid in places. 

 The wheat, too, was as good as it could l)e, but a stiffer strawed 

 variety might, perhaps, have been substituted. The mangolds 

 had been practically spoiled by floods. 



There were five j'oung horses on this little holding, bought 

 as colts and broken to farmwork, and afterwards sold off at 

 good prices to go on the streets ; the advantages of this system 

 have been already mentioned. 



The cows were a magnificent lot of non-pedigi'ee dairy Short- 

 horns, mostly bought in, for the herd is a new one. No records are 

 kept, but there was a young bull with a great milk pedigree, for 

 future use, and it is Mr. Crow's intention to introduce record- 

 keeping into his management. The sheep are Kerry Hills, and 

 these are crossed with an Oxford tup for early lamb, which is 

 typical of the local practice. The pigs, again, reflect the 

 quickness of the tenant to meet the local demand, for some five 

 sows are kept solely to breed suckers for sale (at wonderful 

 prices) to the colliers ; and the demand for poukry is not 

 overlooked, for there is a considerable head of silver and white 

 Wyandottes, and about sixty turkeys. 



A veritable hive of industry. 



The third award went to a farm very different from any of 

 those foregoing. The holding occupied by Mr. Richard Brian 

 Marsh, at Holloway, lies in Corve Dale, a narrow valley formed 

 by the eastern slope of Wenlock Edge and the western side of 

 that range of hills of which Brown Clee is the most important. 

 It is on the high road running from Wenlock south west to 

 Craven Arms, about ten miles from either place, and Ludlow to 

 the south and Bridgnorth to the east are each some twelve miles 

 distant. Church Stretton is a few miles to. the westward, but 

 the climb over intervening Wenlock Edge, and then over Caer 

 Caradoc, is not to be undertaken lightly. The soil is for the 

 most part a medium loam of fair depth, but so precipitous are 

 the fields that heavy rain will sometimes wash it right away. 

 The house is pleasantly situated by the roadside, but the farm 

 buildings are deplorably bad. In spite of this, however, the 

 tenant was able to fatten thirty beast in them and to cart 

 manure up the terrible hill sides. The farm is 126 acres in 

 extent, 82 acres being arable. All this land is clean, and full 

 of fertility, and the barley was standing wonderfully, even after 

 heavy rain. On this soil lime is said to have no effect as a cure 

 for " finger and toe," but Mr. Marsh thought the next clover 

 crop showed benefit. The oat crops were magnificent. All 

 the grass land lay in the bottom on each side of the brook, and 

 was very well grazed, the class of land of which so much can be 



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