Prize Competition, 1885. 
123 
the fertility of most of these farms has been created by their 
tenants ; the extent to which, in many instances, even the equip- 
ment of the land has been due to their outlay ; roads, fences, 
drains, water-supply, even buildings, having been executed and 
erected with little aid from the owners. And the list of im- 
provements of these kinds, of which the tenant himself has 
borne both the labour and the cost, is always the first claim 
which he puts forward to the favourable consideration of the 
Judges. It may be thought from this, especially in a district 
where the farm-prize system has had a longer existence than any- 
where else in the country, that the system of farm prizes is an 
institution altogether in favour of landowners ; and it is certain 
that where prizes have thus been offered for successive genera- 
tions, the corpiis of the estate, as well as its mere surface 
management, has been generally benefited. And the whole 
institution, administered generally by land-agents as judges, 
may thus, perhaps, be considered to be a shrewdly designed 
agency in the interest of the owner. Not so ! We are bound 
to say that our work has been done with no prejudice of this or 
any other kind to begin with, and no instruction subsequently 
to consider the interest of the estate in our awards. The 
general management, with a view to profit, is indeed the first 
item in our instructions, and the keynote to the whole of them. 
And it is a significant fact, that our awards have come to those 
tenants who, while they have most benefited the property, have 
at the same time done best for themselves. 
Beyond this general impression a number of facts stand out on 
a review of our inspection which may be referred to in the 
outset : among them are the extraordinary enterprise, energy, 
and industry shown on Mr. Hothersall's First Prize small Dairy 
Farm near Preston ; the wealth of provision for live stock, ad- 
mirable grass and clover, and extraordinary promise of green- 
crops shown on Mr. Robinson's farm near Middlewich ; the 
wonderful crop of oats on Mr. Cyrus Lea's farm near Tarvin, 
one of the finest things ever seen on arable land ; the completeness 
and neatness of the homestead, the general excellence of all the 
crops, and the admirable condition, as a whole, of the First 
Prize Farm at Stapleford, the profitableness there, too, of the 
large garden attached to the house ; the admirable and laborious 
management of the First Prize Small Farm occupied by Mr. 
Loxham, near Leyland ; the praiseworthy house and dairy ma- 
nagement on Mr. Fearnall's farm near Wrexham, so greatly to the 
credit of his daughter. And there are points worthy of notice on 
the other farms which well deserve a record here. The capital 
stock on Mr. Ashburner's farm, and on that of Mr. Tunstall, 
and the quality and quantity of all kinds of stock on Mr. 
