Somersetshire Farm-Prize Competition, 1875. 579 
The seeds are depastured till the 1st of May, are then let up 
or mowing, and are afterwards again grazed until the leys are 
j)loughed for wheat. 
Our Christmas visit enabled us to see some very good swedes 
in the ground, and a fine piece of Aberdeen hybrid and Green 
.Round turnips being consumed on the land by the sheep. The 
wheat stubbles were in good order, portions having been sown 
with vetches and trifolium, and the rest in course of preparation 
for the ensuing crops. Ten admirably well fed Devon oxen and 
cows, weighing from 12 to 15 score per quarter each, were in the 
.stalls, and had that day been sold. The young stock were all 
on the pastures, receiving a daily allowance of turnips and straw. 
The lambs were on the turnips, doing well. The breeding 
flock of sheep were on the pastures, and close upon lambing. 
i Several of the ewes had cast their lambs, and this indifferent 
commencement culminated in the loss of a good many ewes 
before the completion of the lambing season. Our second visit 
I showed us the autumn and spring wheat not looking very well, 
and suffering from the prevalence of annual weeds ; but on the 
occasion of the third inspection, we found the wheat crops had 
very greatly improved, and apparently were likely to prove 
productive. They were slightly affected w'ith red-rust. The 
beans were very fine, the mangolds forward ; swedes very 
straightly drilled had just been singled, and the turnips had 
been well put in. The stock were all thriving, with the excep- 
tion of one lot of lambs. 
The numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses of all ages on the 
farm were as follows : — 
In December. In July. 
Cattle .... 63 ... 65 
Sheep .... 429 ... 518 
Working Horses . 8 . . . 9 
Cattle. — Seven Devon dairy cows are kept, and a pure Devon 
bull. The cows drop their calves about Christmas, and the 
calves run with their mothers for 3 months, and are then taken 
on hand and well done till the following spring. The heifers 
keep up the dairy as the aged cows are fattened off, and the 
bullocks are made up to number 15 by purchase. The steers 
are sold fat at Christmas as 3-year-olds. The last 6 months 
they are well fed, commencing with 4 lbs. of cake on the grass, 
and finishing with 12 lbs., and an allowance of bean-meal. The 
young stock have no cake or corn on the grass. 
Sheep. — The sheep are a good uniform flock of Dorset horns, 
the breeding ewes numbering 180. The system of treatment is 
much the same as that already described in the report of Mr. Hose- 
