The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition,  1883.  553 
The  house  is  old,  but  the  buildings  are  good,  well-arranged, 
and  kept  in  good  condition.  As  usual  on  farms  of  this  kind, 
they  are  scattered ; hay-barns  being  placed  in  fields  some 
distance  from  the  house.  Mr.  Holden  has  recently  built  at  his 
own  expense  a stable  and  saddle-room,  at  a cost  of  175Z. 
The  farm  does  not  lie  well  ; 98  acres  on  the  north  side,  lying 
up  to  Halton  Moor,  are  detached  from  the  main  portion  of  the 
holding ; and  again,  on  the  south-east  side,  there  are  several 
small  fields  detached  from  each  other  by  intervening  land 
belonging  to  other  proprietors.  These  latter  fields,  lying  on  the 
outside  of  the  farm,  are  ridiculously  small  for  grazing ; they 
were  each  carrying  only  about  3 ewes  and  double  lambs. 
This  entails  much  inconvenience,  besides  extra  work  for  the 
shepherds. 
The  fields  on  the  north  side  are  rough  useful  grazing.  The 
nearest  to  the  house  is  the  pasture  for  6 milking  cows.  The 
remaining  fields  were  lightly  stocked,  chiefly  with  in-calving 
cows.  At  our  January  visit  the  wettest  of  these  fields  was  in 
process  of  being  drained.  The  main  drains  were  laid  with 
pipes  ; the  branches,  7 yards  apart,  with  sods ; the  whole  costing 
about  4 1.  an  acre,  of  which  the  landlord  pays  one  half.  This 
field  was  much  improved  in  appearance  when  we  revisited  it  in 
July.  Mr.  Holden  has  drained  a considerable  acreage  at  his 
own  expense,  but  some  additional  draining  is  still  required. 
Draining  is  usually  followed  by  liming,  or  a dressing  of  compost 
made  of  lime  and  soil.  About  50  acres  have  received  these 
applications  ; 9 acres  that  had  been  drained  last  year  were 
afterwards  dressed  with  ground  bones.  A portion  of  the  meadow 
is  dressed  with  nitrate  of  soda  and  superphosphate,  which, 
Mr.  Holden  states,  gives  better  results  than  the  Peruvian  guano 
previously  used.  Mr.  Holden  occupies  two  other  farms,  besides 
150  acres  of  his  own  property.  The  stock  is  moved  from  one 
farm  to  another  ; it  is  therefore  somewhat  difficult  to  ascertain 
what  number  of  stock  this  particular  farm  actually  carries. 
Cattle. — Not  many  cattle  had  been  wintered.  At  the  January 
inspection  we  took  note  of  only  about  30  head,  including  11 
calves  and  stirks.  This  system,  though  it  does  not  require  so 
much  hay  to  be  grown,  necessitates  buying  too  many  cattle  in 
the  spring,  which  are  at  that  season  generally  scarce  and  dear ; 
and  as  a rule  these  do  not  feed  so  quickly  as  those  wintered  on 
the  farm.  In  April  we  were  told  by  Mr.  Holden  that  he  had 
great  difficulty  in  obtaining  suitable  cattle.  The  numbers  had 
then  risen  to  65,  and  in  July  they  had  further  increased  to  96 
head  ; the  last  additions  were  chiefly  Irish  heifers  of  a good  sort, 
but  they  had  cost  stiff  prices. 
In  July,  9 of  the  best  heifers  and  8 ewes  with  double  lambs 
VOL.  XIX. — s.  s.  2 o 
