604 
Report on the Farm-Prize Competition 
would have a right of pre-entry for the purpose of cultivating 
the remaining one-fourth of the arable land. 
The farm is situate about 14 miles west of Newcastle, and 
7 miles north of Stocksfield-on-Tyne. It lies a little to the 
north of the Roman wall, and is at an altitude of from 420 to 
480 feet above sea-level. Its position is remote, as there is 
no railway station within 7 miles, and all the purchased 
manures and feeding-stuffs have to be hauled this distance over 
a hilly road. The climate is not very favourable, and it is 
said to be fully a fortnight later than that of the Tyne valley, 
which is only a few miles to the south. 
The farm is, roughly speaking, contained in a parallelogram, 
which has sides of about a mile and a half from north to south, 
and about 25 chains from east to west. About half a mile from 
its southern boundary it is cut in two by a public road, and 
here at the highest part of the farm the homestead is placed. 
From the road the land slopes downwards to the north and 
south. Near the northern extremity is a second range of 
buildings. 
The house is a comfortable one, and has in front a small flower- 
garden, and on the west an excellent orchard and kitchen- 
garden. It is often said that good farmers are bad gardeners, 
but certainly in almost every case where the Judges could 
commend the management of the farm, they could also say that 
the garden bore evidence of great care and attention. The 
home buildings are commodious, and well arranged. A fixed 
steam-engine threshes the corn and works a pair of stones, 
corn-crushing rollers, a chaff-cutter, and a cake-breaker. The 
waste steam is employed in steaming chaff, roots and meal. 
There is a straw-barn and corn-dressing-barn, also a hay- 
barn [55 feet X 20 feet X 15 feet to eaves] capable of holding 
100 loads of hay, and extensive byres and feeding hovels, stables, 
root-houses, mixing-room, cart lodges, &c. The outlying set 
of buildings comprise a byre, hay-house, root-house, sheds and 
yards, accommodating 40 head of cattle. 
There are five cottages on the farm. These ai'e occupied by 
the foreman, shepherd, and draughtmen or carters. They are 
of the ordinary type of Northumberland cottages. One which 
we visited had a living-room, a bed-room, and a pantry, and 
nothing more. Another had a large living-room, and behind it 
three small cells — one of which was used as a bed-room, one as 
a scullery, and the third as a pantry. 
The soil is for the most part strong clay on the magnesian 
limestone. On no part of the farm can turnips be fed off on the 
land. The southern portion is much inferior to that on the 
north, where there is a fine tract of pasture, some of it 
