574 
The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition,  1883. 
In  January  we  found  here,  as  elsewhere,  a grand  crop  of 
turnips.  In  July  the  prospect  for  a crop  this  season  was  far 
from  good.  Sowing  had  been  completed,  but  no  swedes  were 
thinned.  White  turnips  after  beans  had  been  sown  on  the  flat, 
and  were  appearing  above  ground.  These  had  been  put  in 
with  3 cwt.  of  bone-meal  and  2 cwt.  of  superphosphate,  mixed 
with  2 tons  of  ashes  drilled  with  the  seed.  Nine  acres  of  fallow 
were  intended  to  be  sown  with  rape.  The  fallows  were  all  well 
done.  A six-acre  field,  which  has  only  recently  come  into  Mr, 
Coverdale’s  occupation,  showed  a good  deal  of  couch  in  January, 
but  at  the  last  visit  the  whole  was  turned  out  of  hand  clean, 
and  in  fine  condition. 
Live-Stock. — In  January  we  found  140  very  good  ewes  close- 
folded  on  a big  crop  of  white  turnips,  and  were  not  getting  any 
other  food  supplied  to  them.  Previous  to  our  visit  there  had 
been  a spell  of  wet  weather,  which  had  converted  the  sheep- 
folds  on  this  loamy  land  into  a puddle.  The  ewes  looked 
uncomfortable ; but  the  feeding-hoggs  in  the  same  field,  eating 
cut  white  turnips,  looked  miserable.  The  mud  adhering  to  the 
long  wool  had  formed  into  balls  all  along  the  lower  line  of  their 
bodies ; fresh  relays  of  mud  were  being  added  every  day,  and 
were  getting  too  heavy  for  many  of  the  poor  sheep  to  carry  ; 
they  did  look  unhappy.  Fifty  ram-hoggs  were  getting  cake, 
175  feeding-hoggs  had  turnips  and  a little  hay.  At  the  May 
inspection  the  hoggs  were  still  folded  on  the  turnip-land  ; they 
had  now  comfortable  quarters,  but  many  of  them  were  lame, 
and,  as  a lot,  they  did  not  look  well.  About  7 scores  were  sold 
off  the  shears  shortly  after  our  visit,  making  an  average  price 
of  about  50 s.  per  head.  The  ewes  were  looking  well,  but  had 
been  most  unfortunate  in  their  crop  of  lambs : these  looked 
dry  in  the  skin  and  stunted  ; not  at  all  like  the  produce  of 
such  a fine  lot  of  ewes.  In  July  the  numbers  given  were  only 
108  lambs  for  120  ewes.  They  were  then  going  on  good  seed- 
pastures,  getting  cake.  The  ewes  were  big  and  fat,  but  the 
lambs  were  very  uneven. 
The  Judges  found  that  wherever  ewes  had  been  folded  on 
turnips  without  having  a run  over  grass,  or  supplied  with  dry 
food,  the  crop  of  lambs,  though  numerous  when  dropped,  were 
delicate,  difficult  to  rear,  and  died  off  in  large  numbers. 
The  shearling  rams,  40  in  number,  going  in  grand  clover 
and  eating  cake,  were  not  a credit  to  Leicester  and  Lincoln 
crossing : they  did  not  warrant  any  further  experiments  in  that 
direction  ; at  least  such  was  the  opinion  of  the  Judges. 
Ten  milking-cows,  showing  good  dairy  qualities,  are  usually 
kept,  and  their  calves  reared.  The  heifers  are  brought  in  for 
cows,  and  the  steers  are  fed  off  at  three  years  old.  Eight 
