TTie Farm-Prize Competition, 1884. 
567 
Class II. — Second Prize. 
Mr. Joseph Pearce, Welbroughton Farm, near Neuport. 
Mr. Pearce occupies on yearly tenure, under Sir T. F. 
Boughev, Bart., two farms adjoining each other, viz., Wel- 
broughton, 374 acres (arable 232, grass 142), and Pollymore, 
156 acres, not in competition but subject to inspection. 
The agreement is not advantageous to the tenant, and con- 
siderable benefit will be derived from the new Act. The prin- 
cipal features are exclusion from the Act of 1875 ; no allowance 
for cake or manure purchased : the tenant is tied down to the 
four-course rotation, a free off-going crop on half the clover 
leys, or two-thirds of dead fallows ; no crop is allowed on 
turnip-land, and no allowance is made for labour or manure. 
Seeing that the tillage land is nearly all free working and 
suitable for roots, these are very foolish conditions. The 
landlord supplies gates free of charge and finds materials 
for repairs. This is a hard and rather one-sided agreement, 
quite unnecessary for a man like Mr. Pearce, whose excellent 
management justifies more liberal terms and greater freedom 
of action. 
At one time many years ago, Welbroughton was the late 
owner's home farm, and it was tuen laid out in the excellent 
rectangular inclosures which remain, and render the farm very 
convenient to handle. There was one tenant who occupied for 
ten years, between that period and Mr. Pearce's occupation, 
which dates from 1878. 
Mr. Pearce is a grazier, indeed we might almost say that he 
deals in cattle, which he chiefly picks up from his neighbours, 
seldom buying in the open market, and there is no doubt that 
the financial success of his operations is in some measure due 
to his thorough knowledge of how and what to buy. The 
object is to procure animals in fresh condition, to feed them 
liberally, and to turn them over as soon as possible. An average 
of 200 cattle pass through Mr. Pearce's hands each year ; and 
at our second visit we found very few of the same animals that 
were on the farm in January. It is worthy of note that, not- 
withstanding the large traffic in cattle, this farm has never been 
visited by foot-and-mouth disease. 
The following Tables give a comparison of the number and 
description of cattle in January and May : — 
VOL. XX. — 3. S. 
