The Farm-Prize Competition, 1884. 
591 
stated to be unavoidable, owing to the late bad season. Dry 
weather, which had prevailed ever since the first week of April, 
had prevented the usual cultivation before the hops com- 
menced to grow ; after which it would be dangerous to touch the 
land until the bines are trained to the poles. Mr. Sherratt did 
not apprehend any difficulty on this score. The second 
ploughing was carried out in March. The last furrow is 
ploughed up to the hops, and then the hills are earthed up by 
men with mattocks.* The crop ranges from nothing up to 
15 cwt. per acre, which latter produce has been twice reached in 
25 years. An average yield is 8 cwt. The annual cost of 
labour is about 10/. an acre, made up as follows : — 
£ s. d. 
Cultivation as described . . . . 5 0 0 
Setting up poles 0 12 0 
Picking 560 bushels at lirf. .. 3 10 0 
Pulling up and piling poles . . 0 18 0 
About 1500 bines per acre. These are planted in two ways, 
either 8 feet between the rows, and 4 feet from hill to hill, in 
which case 3 poles are used to each hill ; or 7 feet between the 
rows and 3J feet from hill to hill, using 2 poles to each hill : 
in both cases 4 plants in each hill. Farmyard-manurC; either 
made on the farm, or purchased, is principally relied on ; Mr. 
Sherratt does not much like woollen rags. The hops suffer con- 
siderably from aphis at times, but he has never washed the bines, 
and does not dress the poles with any preservative, so as to 
prolong their efficiency. Goldings and Mathon Whites are the 
sorts chiefly grown. The general character of the land at the 
Holdberry Farm is strong red clay. The buildings are suitable 
and comparatively new, the oast-houses and kilns for hop-curing 
very well arranged. 
Mr. Sherratt began by keeping Hereford cattle, but gave them 
up on account of severe losses from quarter-evil. More than 
half the young stock died from this cause, which he attributed to 
the poverty and coldness of the pastures. He then introduced 
Ayrshires, which he found much hardier ; and during the last 
twenty years has only had two cases of quarter-evil. The 
ordinary practice is to procure a few in-calf heifers every year 
from Ayrshire, and from these and his own stock he selects 
from ten to twelve heifer-calves, which are reared by hand. 
The bull calves, which usually form two-thirds of the produce, 
are either sold with their mothers, or fed for the butcher, and all 
* Writing on July 5, Mr. Sherratt says, " I have now got a fine mould in my 
hopyards ; they are clean and rowed up, and the hops in general over the tops of 
the poles, some of them a yard or two over them. Also some of the earlier sorts 
meet across the rows, and at present the appearance is most promising." 
