536 
Farming hi Devon and Cornwall. 
fields, and in addition about 50 mares (Dartmoor and Exmoor 
ponies) are taken in for a summer's run, and stinted to selected 
sires. One of the latter now in use is a grandson of the cele- 
brated " Sir George," whilst another won first prize in its class at 
the Koyal Show at Plymouth. Seventeen cart mares, chiefly 
Clydesdales, are kept for the carting, and are mostly bred from. 
The nine foals bred this year are by a Clydesdale stallion bought 
at Ayr Show. Much of the produce is sold to and consumed in 
the prison establishment : the rest is sold off either to residents 
in the districts or to Plymouth. Annual auctions of surplus 
live stock are held, at which 1,400Z. or 1,500£. worth are often 
sold. Private sales of ponies, sheep, and pigs are also made. 
The whole of the work is done by the convicts without the 
aid of horses, except for carting. The men work in gangs of ten, 
with a warder for each gang. Sometimes ten or a dozen gangs 
will be at work in one field, digging, hoeing, carrying manure in 
handbarrows, &c, under the supervision of the warders, and with 
guards with loaded rifles posted round to prevent escape. 
The management of the farm is under the able direction of 
Mr. Alex. Watt, F.S.I., and is a notable example of what skill 
and capital can accomplish in the improvement of land. 
Conclusion. 
Upon the whole, Devonshire and Cornish farmers are to 
be congratulated upon their present position, and upon many 
advances in their local agriculture which have been made since 
the two previous reports referred to were published. There may 
not in the two counties be as much of that " fine " or " high " 
farming and large expenditure of capital which are to be found 
in the Eastern, Midland, and Northern counties ; but, on the 
other hand, the investment of capital there has been a safer one, 
and has been accompanied by less loss throughout the recent 
agricultural depression. Farming for profit and a living, and 
not for mere occupation, show, or amusement, is the chief 
characteristic of the South-western agriculturist, who appears to 
have combated more successfully the recent depression than 
many of his fellow-farmers elsewhere have been able to do. Hi* 
life may be one of hard work, his management may be less high, 
and his style of living less ambitious than that of his wealthier 
brethren, but he has throughout recent years had less occasion 
to regret that want of profit which has been experienced in many 
of the best-farmed parts of the kingdom — and, after all, the pur- 
suit of agriculture is robbed of much of its pleasure when the 
annual balance-sheets show a succession of deficits. 
F. PUNCHARD. 
