656 
Meport on the Farm-Prize Competition 
Since the last visit 25 sheep had been sold or consumed. The 
losses by death had been 38. It is a remarkable fact that only 
one Cheviot ewe of the hill flock had died in the interval 
(21 weeks). The losses among the half-breds had been more 
serious, the deaths occurring chiefly among the older sheep. 
The Cheviot ewe hoggs had been during part of the winter at 
keeping in Durham at Sd. a head a week. The loss had been 
11 out of 142, which was said to be unusually large. The 132 
half-bred ewe hoggs of December were now 126. The lambs 
of the Cheviot ewes were not enumerated, about 50 of them had 
still to lamb. The half-bred lambs numbered 444, which is 
about 131 lambs for 100 ewes put to the ram. The lambing 
season was described as the best the shepherd had ever experi- 
enced at Scrainwood, and this was attributed to the dry spring. 
The flock generally was noted as good and even in character, 
the lambs as blooming — the half-bred ewe hoggs were specially 
commended. 
Thirty-eight acres of Barley sown after Swedes, on the 16th of 
February, with 2 bushels of seed an acre, were found strong and 
healthy. 
Twenty acres of Oats after ley, sown 28th of March, looked 
very well, and the seeds were very fresh. 
The Turnips were then being sown. Two ploughs were 
employed in ridging and splitting the ridges again. Two men 
filled 2 carts with dung, four women spread the dung between 
the ridges — one man was sowing the artificial manure, and 
the steward was superintending the work, which was carried on 
in a thoroughly business-like manner. This land, which, as 
has been noted, was ploughed before our visit in December, 
had been three times ploughed, since then limed, frequently 
grubbed, and made thoroughly clean ; 15 to 18 loads of good 
farmyard-manure were applied with 2 cwt. Liebig's guano, 
2 cwt. superphosphate of lime, 2 cwt. bone-meal, ^ cwt. sulphate 
of ammonia. The sorts sown were Greentop, White Globe, 
Yellow Bullock, and Hybrid Yellow. 
Our final inspection was made on the 1st of July, on a 
blazing hot day. Curiously enough, each visit to this farm was 
made on a day perfect of its kind, while in the case of another 
farm which we visited three times, it rained every tiijie almost 
incessantly. By making an early start from Rothbury, however, 
we managed to get over a good portion of the farm before the 
heat of the day became too great. Some of the corn showed 
the effects of the drought, and the swede turnips, sown rather late 
(because the land was subject to " runch " *), looked very blue, 
Charlock, Sinaiiis arvciisie. 
