590 
Report on the Farm-Prize Competition 
excellent accommodation. The homesteads have almost uni- 
versally a fixed threshing machine, driven either by steam or 
water power. The engine is usually employed to work a mill for 
grinding corn, a chaff-cutter, and a cake breaker ; straw barns 
are always provided, and many hay barns have been put up of 
late years. Byres and feeding hovels with large shelter sheds 
for younger cattle, root houses, implement sheds, cart lodges, &c., 
are provided on a liberal scale, in proportion to the size of the 
holding. Cottages of very substantial character, and suitable to 
the habits and tastes of the Northumbrian hinds, are to be 
found on almost every farm. Bad buildings and bad cottages 
of course there are, but as a rule the landlords of the county 
have done their best to give the farmers, and their workmen, 
good homes and good buildings. 
Size of Farms. — Large estates and large farms are very 
usually found associated together. In Northumberland a large 
proportion of the holdings are of more than the average size. 
Major Craigie, in a paper read before the Statistical Society in 
February 1887, deduces from the Agricultural Returns the fact, 
that in 1885 the average size of a holding in that county was 
119 '7 acres, while in Wilts, which ranks next to it as a county 
of large holdings, the average size was 100*2 acres, and for all 
England the average was 60 acres. 
The Agricultural Returns for 1886 contain very full informa- 
tion as to the number of Agricultural Holdings of various sizes 
in every county. The following Table summarises the result 
of these Returns for the counties of Northumberland and Durham, 
and contrasts them with those for England generally. 
XOKTHUJIBERLAND. 
1 DunuAM. 
EXGLAKD. 
Classes of Holdings * 
Percentage 
of Total 
Number ol 
HolJings. 
Percentage 
of Total 
Acreage 
in certain 
Classes of 
Holdings. 
1 
Percentage 
of Total 
Number ol 
Holdings. 
Percentage 
of Total 
Acreage 
in certain 
Classes of 
Holdings. 
Percentage 
of Total 
Number ol 
Holdings. 
Perccnljige 
of I'l-tal 
Acreage 
in certain 
Classes of 
Holdings. 
Of \ acre aud not ex-j 
ceciliuf; 5 acres .. / 
Above 5 acres and iiotl 
exceeding 50 acres . . / 
Above 50 acres and not) 
exceeding 500 acres / 
Above 500 acres . . 
18'91 
3G-74 
40-22 
4-13 
•45 
5-71 
CS-CG 
25 18 
19-33 
44-07 
3C-12 
•48 
•8G 
12-50 
81-82 
4-82 
29-9G 
41-08 
27-84 
1-12 
119 
1313 
71-88 
13-80 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100 00 
100-00 
ioa-00 
* in llio Agricultund Returns the Classes of Holdings are OJ a, to la.' 
1 n. to 5 a. ; 5 a. to 20 a. ; 20 a. to 50 a. ; 50 a. to 100 a. ; 100 a. to 300 a. ; 300 a. to 
500 a. ; 500 a. to 1000 a ; above 1000 a. 
