84 
EepoH on the Farm Prize Competition 
subsoil is magnesian limestone, which at some points rises to the 
surface. 
Mr. Widdowson lives in his own house, very pleasantly situ- 
ated, walled in from the village, with a large well-kept garden, 
and a vinery, in which he takes great pride. Mr. Widdowson 
is also a corn and seed merchant, has a malting business, and 
collects the rents of allotments for the Duke of Portland. Under 
the duke there are 436 allotments, each 600 square yards, for 
which the sum of 6«. per annum is paid by the occupant. Au 
addition of 120 more allotments was to be made during the pre- 
sent winter. About 26 acres belonging to Weightman's Charity 
are similarly divided. 
]\lr. AViddowson's farm-buildings are at a distance from his 
house, and are the least pretentious of any that the Judges were 
called to inspect. They are situated in two different parts of the 
village, are built of brick, roofed with Bridgewater tiles, and 
are not at all modern in construction or arrangement. There 
is no proper stackyard, but the ricks are fenced round with iron 
rails on wheels. There are four cottages included with the 
farm. 
Mr. Widdowson is a high farmer, and manures his land very 
heavily, in which practice he has great faith. He buys all the 
night-soil that can be got for 2s. 6d. per cubic yard, delivered on 
the land ; and the payment for this is 40L yearly. For linseed- 
cake and artificial manures he pays about 178?. a year. His crops, 
however, were not nearly equal to those on the First Prize farm, 
and some couch-grass and docks could be found on the land. 
The root crop of 1887 as seen in December was very good. 
A field of mangolds, and another of swedes, had taken the first 
prize at the annual Show of the Greaseley Agricultural Associa- 
tion, which has existed forty years, and of which Mr. Widdowson 
has been a member since its formation. The swedes, which had 
been sown in drills, were ploughed in to protect them from the 
frost. Two rows were converted into one, a system very generally 
adopted in the Midland districts, and the swedes Avere eaten on 
the gi'ound with sheep. 
The wheat in May and July appeared clean, but a little thin 
in some places, though it was filling out and promised to be a 
good crop. Barley (about 9 acres of Chevalier) on the limestone 
was very good, strong, and exceptionally clean. Oats (7 acres 
of Poland), after two years of seeds, manured three years in 
succession, looked like being an excellent crop. 
The grass for mowing first year was good ; second year 
seeds were light, with no clover, but only ryegrass. A field of 
1 1 acres of two-year seeds, grazed w;th sheep, Avas thin in clover,. 
