Report on the Farm-Pi i:c Competition, 1871. 
299 
of Yew Tree Farm, Penkridge. Commended, the farms occupied 
by Mr. John Glover, Bangley, Tarn worth, and Mr. Edward 
White, of Ivnowle House, Lichfiekl. 
For the hest-mana(jed Dairy Farm. — First Prize, 100?., offered 
by the Landowners in Staffordshire and Shropshire, to Mr. John 
Clay, Kinsale, Oswestry. Second Prize, 50Z., offered by the 
Society, to jMr. Matthew Walker, of Stockley Park, Anslow, 
Burton-on-Trent. 
First-Prize Farm. 
This farm, occupied by Mr. George Townsend Forester, as a 
yearly tenant, is composed of 300 acres of arable land, and 140 of 
grass, and is situated five miles north-west from Wellington, and 
eight miles north of Shrewsbury. About half the farm has a 
substratum of sand and sandy loam, with occasional beds of rock 
and marly clay ; the remainder is upon a subsoil of clay, varying in 
texture, and intersected by sand-veins, containing a large amount 
of water, worn pebbles of various sizes, and fragments of rock. 
One of the largest specimens shown us in the garden was between 
four and five feet in length, and two feet in diameter. They 
vary from the above size down to that of a hen's egg. This 
part of the farm was ploughed originally in high-backed lands, 
but is now level. The surface-soil is of medium quality, 
betwixt light and heavy. Mr. Forester entered upon the farm in 
1841. The improvements that have been made, principally by the 
removal of internal fences, will be best understood by a glance 
at the accompanying maps (pp. 300 and 301), which represent the 
farm in 1841, and at the present time. It will be observed that in 
1841 the homestead and farm-buildings were at one extremity, and 
in the village of High Ercall ; and the fields were small inclo- 
sures with crooked fences. The land was also suffering from 
the want of drainage. 
At Mr. Forester's request buildings Avere erected in a central 
position by the landlord (His Grace the Duke of Cleveland), 
suitable roads, of which the farm was previously entirely 
deficient, being made by Mr. Forester at his own cost. The 
tenant also laid out and reared the new lines of quickset fencing, 
materials in the rough being supplied by the landlord. 
The perfect cleanliness and excellent condition of the fences 
bear evidence to the attention that has been paid to this important 
detail. Once a year the fence-bottoms are thoroughly cleaned, 
and the fences are trimmed. We do not, however, approve of 
the form in which the fences are grown. The base is not suf- 
ficiently broad for the apex, consequently the drip from the 
latter has already weakened, and must eventually greatly injure, 
the lower part of the fence. The drainage of 273 acres of the 
farm was done by the tenant, the landlord finding tiles. The 
