560 
The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition , 1883. 
buildings  are  not  spouted.  Two  large  open  folds  with  shelter 
sheds  are  used  for  cattle-feeding.  These  are  surrounded  by  the 
cow-byre,  boxes,  and  stables.  There  is  no  fixed  threshing- 
machine,  nor  much  hand-machinery  of  any  kind. 
Cropping. — As  appears  to  be  the  fashion  in  Yorkshire,  no 
fixed  plan  of  cropping  is  pursued,  though  a six-course  shift 
is  the  usual  system,  commencing  with  seeds,  followed  by  oats, 
white  turnips  eaten  off,  wheat,  swede  turnips — one-third  drawn, 
the  rest  eaten  off — then  barley  and  clover. 
Mr.  Watson  says  that  for  the  last  few  years  he  has  let  a seed- 
field  stand  for  two  years.  He  finds  the  best  way  to  do  that  is 
to  pull  turnips  off  near  the  homestead  and  give  the  land  extra 
manure.  Mr.  Watson  gives  as  reasons  for  pulling  off  turnips, 
that  the  land  can  be  sown  with  barley  in  good  time,  and  barley 
sown  early  is  far  better  in  quality  and  there  is  more  of  it  ; also, 
the  land  near  the  homestead  is  stronger,  and  will  grow  beans. 
After  harvest,  every  acre  of  the  barley-stubble,  where  the  turnips 
were  pulled  off  the  previous  winter,  is  manured  and  sown  with 
beans.  After  beans  come  white  turnips,  which  are  eaten  off 
with  sheep  in  the  autumn  and  sown  with  wheat  ; it  is  then  very 
fresh  to  grow  clover-seeds,  and  no  place  is  found  better  than 
this  to  get  a good  strong  plant. 
The  acreage  of  the  crops  for  the  present  year  is  as  follows : — 
Beans,  15  acres 
Barley,  101  „ 
Seeds,  119  „ 
Wheat,  28  acres. 
Oats,  142  ,, 
Turnips  or  rape,  156  „ 
Beans  were  a capital  crop  in  July.  They  are  not  hoed, 
but  a few  ewes  and  lambs  called  weeders  are  run  in  amongst 
them  until  the  stalks  get  too  big  to  travel  amongst  without 
being  damaged  ; these  ewes  are  said  to  pick  out  most  of  the 
weeds,  but  certainly  not  all. 
Barley  was  all  a capital  crop.  Mr.  Watson’s  motto  in 
regard  to  change  of  seed  is  “ wheat  ever,  barley  never,”  and 
with  him  this  unchanged  sort  of  barley  does  well  ; it  is  tall,  stiff 
in  the  straw,  and  very  prolific  ; in  February,  144  acres  were  just 
threshed,  yielding  914  qrs.,  and  sold  at  35s.  per  qr. 
Wheat , after  two  years’  seeds,  was  a fair  crop,  well  headed, 
but  not  thick.  The  seeds  are  ploughed  out  in  the  course  of  the 
summer,  as  opportunity  offers,  and  the  land  is  cultivated, 
manured,  and  sown  in  the  autumn,  if  possible. 
Mr.  Watson  states  that  he  gets  at  least  3 sacks  more  of  barley 
per  acre  than  of  wheat,  the  former  selling  for  35s.  per  qr.,  and 
the  latter  for  38s.  ; he  is  convinced  that  wheat  takes  more  out 
of  the  land  than  barley,  and  that  the  land  can  be  kept  much 
cleaner  when  sown  in  spring. 
