The Farm Prize Competition 0/1890. 
789 
A large lot of poultry is kept and reared for table, the pro- 
ceeds in this department being 190?. per annum. 
The orchards are well attended to, and special attention is paid 
0 top dressing and pruning. 
The fences and gates on the farm are models of neatness, for 
Mr. Yosper neglects nothing. In the fields where the cows run, 
1 row of barbed wire is placed on short stakes diaven horizontally 
nto the bank, to prevent the animals damaging the fence. 
Every fence on the farm is " dressed " once a year, and no scrub 
.s allowed to grow on the top. 
The labour bill on such a farm is of necessity a heavy one, 
miounting as it does to about 1,300/., or 1/. 10s. per acre per 
annum. The regular staff numbers 30 hands, who receive from 
13s. to 16s. per week, with sundry privileges. 
Mr. Yosper seems to have imparted to his men much of that 
smartness and energetic activity which is so strong a feature in 
his own character. The Judges saw none of that slouching, or 
deliberation of movement, in his workmen whioh is so common 
in the agricultural labourer, and so trying to the patience of 
an active mind. A most pleasant feeling exists between both 
parties, for each appreciates the good qualities of the other, and 
one result of this happy state of things was seen when, during 
the recent labour agitation in the neighbourhood, nothing occurred 
to disturb the relationship between master and man on this 
farm. Mr. Yosper speaks in high terms of most of his men, 
especially of some half-dozen who have worked for him and his 
father for periods varying from 19 to 24 years, and whom he has 
recommended for the Society's Certificates of Merit. 
The Plymouth trade in milk, poultry, and green food (for 
which the annual tollgates paid amount to upwards of 80/.), 
necessitates a somewhat elaborate system of bookkeeping, the 
bulk of which falls to the share of Mrs. Yosper, who in this as 
in many other ways is a true Devonshire farmer's wife, and ever 
ready to take an active and efficient part in the work. The 
books are prepared specially for the farm, and show the receipts 
and expenditure under each of the several headings. 
A balance-sheet is annually drawn out, those for the last two 
years showing an investment of capital amounting to between 
15,000/. and 10,000/., whilst the annual turn-over amounts to from 
13,000/. to 1-1,000/. The figures read more like a large trading 
concern than a mere agricultural occupation. 
Mr. Yosper is upon the best of terms with his landlord, the 
Earl of Morley, as indeed who could fail to be with so genial and 
thorough a nobleman in every sense of the word ? The agent, 
Mr. Newbury, also speaks highly of his tenant's qualifications. 
