JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
I. — Report on the Farm-Prize Competition of 1878. By 
FuEDERiC Beard, of Horton, near Canterbury. 
The prizes awarded were offered by the Local Committee in 
connection with the Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, 
held at Bristol during the year 1878, for the best-managed 
arable, and the best-managed dairy or stock farms in the county 
of Gloucester, the eastern division of the county of Somerset, 
and the northern division of the county of Wilts. The farms 
were divided into classes thus : 
Class I. — For the best-managed Auablk Farm of 200 acres and upwards 
in extent, having at least two-thirds of its area under rotation of cropping, 50Z. ; 
for the second best, 25Z. 
Class II. — For the best-managed Arable Farm, above 80 acres in extent, 
and under 200 acres, having at least two-thirds of its area under rotation of 
cropping, 30/. ; for the second best, 15Z. 
Class III. — For the best-managed Dairy or Stock Farm of not less than 
200 acres in extent, where the cultivation and management are chiefly 
directed to the production of cheese or butter, or of animal food, 50/. ; for the 
second best, 
Class IV. — For the best-managed Dairy or Stock Farm, above 80 acres in 
extent, and under 200 acres, where the cultivation and management arc 
directed principally to the production of cheese or butter, or of animal food, 
30/. ; for the second best, 15/. 
The competition was limited to tenant-farmers, paying a 
bona fide rent for not less than three-fourths of the land in their 
occupation. 
The Judges were instructed to take into full consideration any 
special advantage which one competitor might have over another, 
and to withhold the prizes in the absence of sufficient merit in 
any of the competing farms, and especially to consider the fol- 
lowing points of merit : — 
Classes I. and II. 
1. General Management, with a view to Profit. 
2. Productiveness of Crops. 
3. Goodness and suitability of Live Stock. 
4. Management of Grass and Clover Land. 
5. State of Gates, Fences, Eoads, and General Neatness. 
6. Mode of Book-keeping pursued. 
VOL. XV. — S. S. B 
