The Prize System as applied to Small Farmers in Ireland. 413 
Peter Fox holds the next place on the merit list. He occu- 
pies 10 a. 2 r., at the yearly rent of 71. When I first inspected 
the farm it was very fairly managed. Sundry improvements 
have been effected since, in buildings, in fences, in the cropping 
of the land, and in the management of manure. The family 
consists of Fox and his wife, three sons and one daughter. The 
eldest son is a " handy man," and earns a good deal as a mason ; 
the second spends part of his time working on the farm and 
devotes the remainder to dealing in sheep and " springers." The 
holding consists of a paddock, which contains two roods, a 
garden which contains one rood, and four fields, which are in 
very good condition. 
The crops in 1876 were — 
A. R. P. 
Potatoes 10 35 
Boots 11 26 
Oats 12 19 
Meadows 1 1 .26 
Grazing (including paddock) 4 3 30 
The stock consisted of : — 
2 cows (the calves of which are reared). 
2 heifers. 
1 sow (part of the produce of which are sold as stores and part fattened.) 
1 pony. 
50 poultry. 
As the farm does not produce straw enough to meet all the 
requirements of the system pursued, two or three acres of oats 
are purchased every year on " foot," from which, after paying 9/. 
an Irish acre last year, he did not derive much advantage beyond 
getting the straw cheap. The oats raised on the farm are ground 
into meal and used by the family. 
Two sets of pigs of five each are fattened in the year, and as 
many more are sold as " slips." The total receipts from pigs in 
1876 exceeded 60/. The heifers are sold at 18 months or 2 years 
old, grazing being generally hired for them for six months of 
the second year. 
That a large quantity of milk and butter is used in the family 
is made known by the fact that although in 1876 two good 
cows were kept, only one. firkin of butter was sold. 
For want of space I cannot notice any of the other competitors, 
but the tabular statement of facts (Table L, pp. 414, 415) appears 
to me to be so interesting, that I give it in extenso. 
