The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition , 1883. 
531 
and  though  it  bore  a somewhat  coarser  herbage,  it  was  evidently 
improving.  Nos.  2 and  3 on  the  plan  (Fig.  1,  p.  522),  now  one 
field,  containing  nearly  29  acres,  were  drained  in  January  1882. 
This  field  was  dressed  in  1882  with  12  tons  of  farmyard- 
manure  per  acre,  and  the  whole  field  was  again  covered  in  1883. 
This  season  it  was  meadow,  bearing  a very  heavy  crop  of  grass  ; 
and  at  the  time  of  our  visit  was  ready  for  cutting.  Between 
No.  4 pasture  and  Twyers  Hill  there  had  been  an  ugly,  dangerous, 
deep  gutter,  surmounted  by  a high  straggling  hedge.  The 
gutter  had  been  cleaned  out,  a large  tile  laid  in  the  bottom,  and 
the  banks  filled  in.  The  old  hedge  had  been  cut  and  laid  in  a 
truly  workmanlike  fashion  during  the  winter,  and  in  July  had 
made  a wonderful  shoot,  giving  promise  of  speedily  becoming 
a good  fence.  It  was  protected  by  the  cut  thorns,  which  were 
so  strong  that  they  furnished  stakes  as  well.  This  work  was 
very  neatly  done,  and  chiefly  by  the  farm  labourers.  Another 
hedge,  which  had  attained  a great  height,  but  was  not  so 
rugged,  had  been  cut  off  close  to  the  roots  ; it  was  also  protected 
by  stakes  and  thorns  on  each  side.  Though  well  and  neatly 
done,  this  is  a more  questionable  improvement.  The  cutting 
down  of  the  hedge  for  a time  destroyed  a valuable  shelter,  an 
important  consideration  in  grazing.  These  fields  are  watered 
by  large  ponds  which  are  neatly  fenced  round,  one  side  being 
left  open  to  admit  the  cattle.  A small  paddock  of  2 acres 
adjoining  the  homestead  completes  the  area  of  grass  land. 
Cropping. — No  regular  system  of  cropping  is  followed,  as  will 
be  apparent  from  the  following  Table  (p.  532),  which  gives  the 
crops  in  each  field  for  the  past  six  years.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  wheat  is  frequently  followed  by  oats,  and  vice  versa. 
We  entered  the  farm,  off  the  main  road,  first  into  a clover  field 
of  91  acres.  The  crop,  sown  with  21  lbs.  of  red  clover  and 
Hampshire  cow-grass,  was  very  heavy  ; it  was  sold  as  grass  at 
125.  6f/.  per  ton,  loaded  on  to  waggons  in  the  field  and  driven 
off  by  the  purchaser ; it  was  yielding  about  15  tons  per  acre, 
estimated  to  be  equal  to  3 tons  of  hay.  The  stems  of  the 
clover  were  of  extraordinary  thickness  ; no  rye  grass  is  sown. 
A new  road  through  the  field  has  just  been  completed,  made 
for  the  purpose  of  leading  500  tons  of  manure  next  winter  to 
the  adjoining  field  on  the  banks  of  the  Humber.  The  road  has 
been  made  with  60  tons  of  chalk,  costing  4s.  per  ton.  This 
road  cut  off  half  an  acre  which  had  been  sown  down  about 
14  days  previous  to  our  visit,  with  the  mixture  for  Permanent 
Pasture  as  recommended  by  Mr.  De  Laune  in  the  pages  of 
a recent  volume  of  this  ‘Journal.’ 
In  January,  some  wheat-stubble  in  the  warp  land  adjoining  the 
Humber  was  being  ploughed  with  2 teams  of  3 horses  each. 
This  field  had  been  drained  with  3-in.  tiles  2 ft.  deep  in  1881,  and 
