282 Report on the Farm-Prize Copipetition of 1872, 
which Eglwysnunyd is only two miles distant. Strong winds 
often prevail from this quarter, doing considerable damage to 
the ripe grain and newly-thinned turnips, and also seriously 
checking the growth of herbage, especially in the early spring. 
Mr. Powell has no written agreement as to rotation of crops, 
neither is he tied down by anv strict verbal injunctions. He 
could, like some of the hill-farmers, take any number of white 
crops in succession, and might, so long as he kept up the 
manurial condition of the land, sell off a portion of hay and 
straw ; but he has never taken advantage of this privilege. 
Horses. — Besides a hackney, eight farm-horses are kept, and 
these of a very superior description, combining activity, symmetry, 
and power. Except when working the two-furrow plough, they 
are always yoked abreast in pairs. They are stabled in winter, 
each man feeding his own team. Their food is generally hay in 
the racks, with a liberal allowance of whole oats, mixed with chaff. 
In summer, if grass be plentiful, and the weather tempting, they 
are turned out day and night ; if otherwise, they have green food 
in the stalls. Mr. Powell aims at breeding a couple of colts a year, 
but, from some cause or another, the mares often prove barren. 
When fortunate, however, in this respect, the young colts come 
in for work at three years of age, older horses being sold ofiF to 
make room for them. Close proximity to large collieries and 
iron-works creates a brisk demand for good and well-seasoned 
cart-horses, and high prices are realised, from 50Z. to 60Z. being no 
uncommon figure for sound animals, when five or six years old. 
Cattle. — After trjing successively the Glamorganshire breed 
of cattle, then Shorthorns, and finally, about twenty years ago, 
the Herefords, the late ]Mr. Powell came to the conclusion that 
the "white faces" were best suited to the land and climate with 
which he had to deal. In the summer months, Shorthorns 
flourished almost as much as he could wish, but in the winter 
season the Herefords had a decided advantage. The breeding 
of Herefords has proved a great success, and there is at present 
on this farm a wonderfully grand herd, of pure blood, fine 
massive form, and faultless touch, and generally numbering 
from 100 to 120 head. The cattle-stock at Eglwysnunyd are 
so much superior to any we saw elsewhere that we may well 
give a description of their management, 
Mr. Powell has as many of his cows as is possible dropping 
their calves during the autumn and beginning of winter. These 
calves are nursed by the mothers during the first four or five 
months, a method which gives them a start they never forget. 
Moreover, it is found by experience that losses occur much less 
frequently where the calves are treated in this their natural way 
than when hand-fed from their birth ; and if, as is Mr, Powell's 
custom, they are never allowed to lose their calves' flesh, fully 
