Derby Prize-Farm Competition, 1881. 
477 
have but little effect. Fields adjoining each other that were 
drained thirty years ago, the one with pipes alone, and the 
other with pipes and stone — the former is now covered with 
rushes and wants redraining, whilst the latter is as perfect as 
when first done. Each of the last fields alluded to have the 
same inclination, the same class of soil, and the same class of 
draining, viz. 30 inches deep and 6 yards apart. A few years 
ago a leading agriculturist experimented in one field with two 
kinds of draining. One half of the field was drained 5 to 
6 feet deep with pipes, the other half 30 inches with stone 
filled nearly to the top. The deeper draining was cut further 
apart and also across the measures. The result of this experi- 
ment was that the drains filled with stone made the land all 
that could be desired ; the deep draining was a complete failure. 
In some instances drains have been made with pipes and stone, 
30 inches deep and 8 yards between the drains. This has been 
found too wide, and an extra drain cut between, making it 
4 yards apart, has rendered the draining complete. From these 
observations it would appear that the best and most effectual 
mode of draining is 30 to 36 inches deep, 6 yards apart, with 
two- to three-inch pipes, and about 3 or 4 inches of stone over 
the pipe, a little straw or brushwood over the stone, the clay 
put in first, the soil on the top." 
As an illustration of how farm customs change we may notice 
that the fixed threshing machine which the tenant of the first- 
prize farm put up less than twenty years ago is now seldom 
used. It is found cheaper to hire a portable engine and machine 
and thresh the stacks where they stand, rather than remove them 
to the barn, although the stack-yard joins it. Upon the second- 
prize farm is a capital fixed chaff-cutter, but it is considered more 
economical to chaff up the straw at the same time that it is 
thrashed in the field, and to remove the chaff in large bags 
direct to the buildings, where it is safely stored until it is 
wanted for the cattle. 
It would be ungracious for us to close this report without 
tendering to " each and every " candidate our best thanks for 
constant courtesies and unbounded hospitality. Had we made 
what might have been considered the best of our opportunities, 
our digestive organs would have been strained to the uttermost. 
To have a jolly breakfast at 7.30, and to be expected to be in a 
position to enjoy a good hot dinner soon after 11, was beyond 
our power, but otherwise we did not fail to do ample justice to 
the good cheer so bountifully supplied at all hours of the day. 
Not only were our creature comforts provided for, but all our 
queries, some of the most searching and inquisitorial character, 
were answered with promptness, openness, and cordiality, and 
every scrap of information, whether it told for or against the 
