528 Somersetshire Farm-Prize Competition, 1875. 
and the wethers receiving 1 J pint of oats per diem, with chaff, 
until they descend to the lower land when they have done the 
turnips, there to be finished. They approach 20 lbs. per quarter, 
in May, and are sold out of wool. The ewe lambs also run the 
turnips during the same time, as also the stock ewes ; but neither 
of these flocks receive any corn unless the weather is very severe, 
in which case they are allowed one pint of oats a day pro tern. 
The turnips are not cut for any of the lots. The whole of the 
sheep go down the hill together when the roots are completed, 
and the lambs are dropped before they return. 
The clip of wool averaged 8 lbs. this year. 
Horses. — The four working horses are of a useful stamp. The 
remaining colts and hacks are half-breds and roadsters. The 
horses live through the winter on oaten-sheaves cut into chaff, 
and as many swedes, mangolds, and carrots as they require. In 
the summer they go into the pastures. 
Fences, Roads, Water, and General Neatness. — The fences, 
three-fourths of which were planted before Mr. Babbage took the 
farm, and the rest since, at the expense of the landlord, are rather 
better than the usual Somersetshire pattern ; they have been 
properly laid out in straight lines, and their high banks are also 
of utility in so exposed a district as a means of shelter. The 
banks are some 6 feet wide at the bottom and 4 feet at the top. 
Their height is about 5 feet, and they are occasionally, near 
roads or gateways, cased on either side with stones. The hedges 
are all of beech, which is planted in double rows on the top of 
the banks. They appear to be thriving well, and are allowed to 
grow to a height of 10 or 12 feet, being only laid down when 
they are becoming open and the adjacent land is in grain. The 
top of the bank is then protected with a layer of blackthorn on 
•either side till the hedge has again grown up. The turnpike- 
road runs past the mines on one side of the farm ; an occu- 
pation-road crosses the centre of the land, and another skirts its 
north-east section. The gates and premises are neatly kept. 
Part of the fields are supplied with the surplus water from the 
ironstone mines ; the others from the Tone. ' ^ 
Labour, ^~c. — Four men of all sorts are kept : — 
Carter \'2s. Od. per week. 
Lad ditto 10s. Bd. „ 
Stockman, with farm-house and 
garden, and firewood . . . lis. Od. ,, 
Old man at 8s. Od. „ 
Cider is given in the harvest, also to the men for corn- 
threshing ; and sometimes in hot weather. 
The old man works or not, optionally, and earns about 6*. 
