Report on the Farm-Prize Competition of 1S72. 319 
clover-crops, tbe scythe will this year be more in requisition, but 
the high prices (os. to 6.>-. per acre) now asked for mowing- will 
soon cause its disuse. In the winning of the hay nothing new 
presented itself. The crop is generally put in oblong stacks, 
and, from the large size of most of these, and the richness of the 
herbage, the hay requires to be thoroughly dry before being carted. 
All the grain, with the exception, in a few instances, of the 
barlev-crop, is bound up and stooked, ten, and in some cases 
twelve, sheaves going to the stook. In Wales, owing to the 
moist atmosphere, " hand mows," or small conical stacks, of 50 
to 60 sheaves each, as seen in Scotland, are occasionally made. 
Excellent harvest-waggons, chiefly by local makers, are used for 
the carting of the grain. 
The barley ricks are for the most part oblong, and of large 
dimensions, while the wheat and oats are put in round stacks of 
from 20 to 40 quarters each; the thatching and finishing off 
being in both cases well and neatly done. 
Except in some of the small hill-farms, and where mere 
patches of corn are cultivated, grain is threshed out by steam- 
driven machines supplied bv the best makers. Many farmers let 
the threshing, and tying of the straw in bundles, to persons who go 
from farm to farm for the purpose, at so much per bushel ; generally 
at 2d. per bushel for oats, and 2^d. to 3d. for barley and wheat. 
Manv and varied are the breeds of cattle in the farm- 
prize district ; and we say, unhesitatingly, that the weak point 
in the farming of Monmouthshire, equallv with that of Wales, 
lies in the cattle management. In one solitary instance we met 
with a few choice Shorthorns of pure pedigree, and there are 
undoubtedlv manv fine herds of Herefords and Welsh cattle : 
but on the majority of farms we found nothing but ill-bred, 
shapeless mongrels. Xot that we would recommend the intro- 
duction of Shorthorns into every district : far from it ; but we 
think greater attention to symmetry, purity of breed, and 
earlv maturity, would be productive of the best results. With 
draining, too, and the general march of improvements, the docile 
and easily kept Hereford might be advantageously pushed further 
westward. Cnquestionably the black Pembrokes, so similar to, 
jet, we understand, quite distinct from, their Glamorganshire 
neighbours, are suited to a high, cold, and damp localitv ; but 
even these might be marvellously improved by more liberal 
feeding, and by the exercise of greater care in the selection of 
sires and dams. Had breeding and perfection of outward form 
been sacrificed for the sake of milking qualities, we could in 
some measure have pardoned the neglect ; but, seeing that little 
attention is given to dairy-farming throughout the district under 
consideration, there is no excuse for having a race of nondescripts. 
