528 Report on the JJ'aricicksJiire Farm-Prize Competition, 1876. 
which has been proved in this locality to produce the best results 
as far as corn-crops are concerned, Mr. Lane manages to put about 
two -fifths of his land annually under root-culture, and this, by a 
process, which is not only ingenious, but which is skilfully 
carried out, and which must add in a material degree to the meat- 
producing capacity of the farm. It was with much pleasure that 
we awarded the Second Prize of 50/. to Mr. Lane, and I shall 
have failed in my intention if I have not conveyed to my readers 
some idea of an admirable farm with much that is interesting, 
and even striking, about it, and which is under a spirited, origi- 
nal, and thoroughly practical and business-like management. 
Mr. J. C. Adkins' Fakm. 
Special Prize of 251. for Cleanliness of Crops, excellent Manage- 
ment of Fences, Roads, and Gates, and general Neatness. 
Milcote Farm is about 2 miles south of Stratford, and a short 
•distance from the road leading- from that town in the direction 
of Chipping Campden. About a mile south of Stratford the 
Avon becomes the boundary of the county separating it from 
Gloucestershire, but a small spur of Warwickshire is just here 
projected across the river, and is almost entirely occupied by 
the Milcote Farm. It consists of 278 acres of arable land and 
95 acres of pasture, but a small quantity of land adjoining the 
town of Stratford (and held under another owner) is farmed in 
conjunction with this occupation, and the total area is, there- 
fore, 393 acres, of which 288 are arable and 105 pasture. It 
should also be mentioned that Mr. Adkins occupies about 30 
acres of grass land (his own property) at Mickleton, about 3j^ 
miles' distance from Milcote, but in another county. 
The house is at the north-eastern corner of the farm, in rather 
a low situation, close to the small river Stour, a tributary of the 
Avon, which, up to its junction with that river forms the north- 
eastern boundary of the farm, after which the Avon becomes 
its limit on that side, whilst the road between the villages of 
Clifford Chambers and Welford skirts its southern confines. 
Its bounds are, therefore, very distinctly marked. The whole 
of the lower portions in the neighbourhood of the Stour'' and the 
Avon are occupied by the meadow lands, and the arable part 
of the farm lies on a very gentle slope rising from the valley to 
the south. The Stratford and Honeybourne branch of the 
Great Western Railway, which here closely hugs the Avon 
valley, runs through the farm, dividing for some distance the 
meadow from the arable land, and intersecting the latter at one 
corner in its course. The Milcote Station of this line is a short 
