238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the manager of the farm, and saw the whole system adopted, 

 as well as could be expected under the circumstances. 



The farm appeared to be under a good state of cultivation. 

 All the labor is hired, the regular farm wages being seven shil- 

 lings a week, the laborers finding themselves. That is twenty- 

 eight cents a day. Good ploughmen get as high as twelve shil- 

 lings a week, and in harvest time three shillings a day. 



They had about 500 sheep at the time I was there, but they 

 usually winter about 700. They were mostly Cotswolds, and 

 looking finely. The farm buildings are of stone, plain and 

 substantial. The fattening animals are kept constantly in 

 boxes, the best size of which, it is thought there, is 9 feet by 9, 

 on account of their treading the manure better in small boxes. 

 They consider the Yorkshire pigs the best and most profitable. 

 Some of them were immensely fat, having been prepared for 

 the Worcester exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society. 



The answer to the question why they got them so fat for that 

 purpose, was that others do, and they are obliged to conform to 

 the practice or fail, though the manager appeared to disapprove 

 of the practice. 



Among the crops were many acres of horse beans. The 

 yield is 40 bushels per acre, 56 lbs. to the bushel, and one ton 

 of straw. They are sown at the rate of 3 bushels per acre, in 

 drills 17 inches apart. They grind them up, and give them to 

 horses, sheep, &c. The wheat was at its full growth, and look- 

 ing very well. The farm horses are Clydesdales. They are 

 large and very useful animals, easily kept in condition. I should 

 think they would weigh from 1,200 to 1,400 lbs. There are 

 various facilities for work, such as a steam-engine, which does 

 a great many kinds of work, like threshing, grinding, winnow- 

 ing, &c. There is also a blacksmith shop^ on the place. 



Experiments were being carried on upon the wlieat fields 

 upon a pretty large scale. They are of considerable, interest 

 and importance, but an enumeration of them would lead too 

 far. 



The following questions at the final examination for the 

 diploma, will indicate the nature of this trial, and at the same 

 time the course of instruction which had been pursued : — 



