596 Somersetshii-e Farm-Prize Comj)etition, 1875. 
the holding six months afterwards, cannot work harmoniously, 
and must be, I imagine, fast falling into disuse. It is to be 
hoped that the careful consideration lately accorded to the rela- 
tions of all connected with the land will enable more workable 
customs to be introduced ; and at the same time will found — for, 
in its nearly total absence, I can scarcely apply the term extend 
— a system of tenant-right suitable to the different districts of 
the county. 
The use of improved implements was observable on most of 
the farms inspected ; and that of reaping and mowing-machines 
is gradually extending, being accelerated considerably by the 
augmented value of labour. Steam-cultivation appears not to 
have made much progress, and I should imagine will not do 
so until the accessories to its profitable use are more developed. 
Take it altogether, Somerset is not a county to be thoroughly 
worked bj this means. W e only saw one set of steam tackle 
during our tour, and heard of no others being used ; but we are 
glad to find that JNIr. Robert Neville intends starting a set of 
double engines in the neighbourhood of Butleigh. 
The custom of underletting the dairy seems wrong in prin- 
■ciple. By its adoption a second middle-man is introduced 
between the landowner and the consumer, and, theoretically, 
•either one of the lessors or the public must suffer. Taking a 
converse view, the principle is precisely the same as that in- 
volved in letting land at all, and if found to answer in the one 
case, may be worked advantageously in the other. It may fairly 
be argued, and it does not take much practical knowledge to be 
aware that such is the fact, that undivided attention, and the 
direction of individual exertion on its own account to any par- 
ticular branch of industry, will produce more tangible results 
than can be obtained through the intermission of agency ; and 
hence, let the principle be what it may, practice satisfies us that 
the system is not altogether unsound. On mixed farms a variety 
of work must be superintended and attended to by the occupier ; 
and dairying, requiring as it does a great deal of direct super- 
vision, if not actual co-operation, is apt to become less*rcmune- 
Tative in the hands of a general good farmer than in those of 
a person who makes it his special business. Of course there is 
much to be said on both sides ; but until the principle of direct 
supply is more clearly developed and more ably administered, 
it is difficult wholly to condemn this system. 
One word respecting l)0()k-kccping. Most of those visited 
had an intelligent idea of their affairs, and could show clearly 
their returns on the various descriptions of crops and stoc k. ' In 
several instances ' Warren's Farmers' Account-book ' was used, 
in which subdivisions of the principal items of the farm are 
