466 ' Report upon the Liverpool Prize-Farm Competition 
This branch of agriculture is a most important one in the 
district, as the principal revenue of the farm depends upon sales 
of hay. The fields, which are laid down in clover and rye- 
grass, are cut for three consecutive years. The mixture consists 
of clovers, including red, white, alsike, and cow-grass, with a 
small percentage of rib-grass, Dogstail, Timothy, and Cocksfoot, 
and, what I would consider it unnecessary to sow, trefoil, at the 
rate of 18 lbs. per acre ; and, in addition to these, half a bushel 
of perennial and half a bushel of Italian rye-grass are sown per 
acre. Some farmers, with advantage, adopt a system of renew- 
ing their grass-fields for the third crop with a little extra sowing 
of red clover. Here I would recommend an autumn sowing of 
Trifolium incarnatum. A double turn of the harrows, when the 
ground is a little soft in the autumn, is sufficient to cause it to 
spring without injury to the older grasses. 
Gates and Fences. 
Fifth heading — State of Gates, Fences, Roads, and General 
Neatness. 
However excellent the cultivation of the fields may be, how 
completely a favourable impression is destroyed by seeing bad 
roads, gappy, ill-trimmed, irregular fences, and badly-hung, 
ruinous-looking gates ! In this district everything was trim and 
neat, large sums having been expended jointly by landlord and 
tenant in eradicating the irregular old fences and renewing 
them all in straight lines. These young fences are well kept on 
the system of allowing the hedges to grow wide at the bottom 
and slope up gradually to a narrow top. The gates were all 
substantial and well hung, and in all our journeyings we scarcely 
met with what might be called a rotten gate. ' 
Book-Keeping. 
In regard to this it was not thought necessary to make any 
inspection. A great deal of agricultural success depends upon 
a thoroughly perfect system of farm-books. It is true the bank- 
book may give a fair enough index either of the success or non- 
success of the year ; but, seeing that various years must dovetail 
into each other, it is necessary to be able to refer to the outlay 
required for those years. It would be advisable that every 
farmer should keep a day-book with a register of every event, a 
cash-book, and a ledger, and it would also be of great value to 
keep an account for every field on the farm, posted up on the 
same principles as a merchant does his traders' accounts. I 
think this simile a true one, because an essential to success 
is thorough knowledge of a farm ; to know the nature of each 
field as thoroughly as a skilful physician does the habits and 
