512 
Report of the Judges on the 
and two were here now. Their food consists in winter of 10 lbs . 
daily of old beans and maize for each, 1 cwt. per week of braij 
among- them, and a few swedes ; clover-hay, and cut chaff ad lib. 
Labour. — As Mr. Finney lives in a village and has plenty of 
cottages near him he departs from the ordinary practice of this 
district, and all his hands board and lodge out of the house. 
Two labourers (stock-men) have 18s. a week each; two, I65. 
each ; one, 17s. ; waggoner, 19s. ; and one stock-man 18s. and 
his cottage ; one boy at 8s., and two at 5s. each, the total cost 
of labour being about 23s. per acre ;* thatching at 6s. per day. 
Purchased Food and Manure. — For last year these bills 
amounted to 388/., or about 18s. 4fZ. per acre. 
The Accounts were well kept, on Webb's system, which in 
Mr. Finney's hands supplied ready answers to all questions on 
this crucial and important point. Chaff-cutting is done here 
and in this neighbourhood by Maynard's chaff-cutters, which 
travel with steam threshing-machines. The charge for the chaff- 
cutter is 20s. per day, and two extra men will feed it with all 
the straw threshed in a day. This can be stored in far less 
compass than the straw can be, and is a ready and abundant 
supply for horses, cattle, and sheep during the winter months. 
The Judges desired to mark their appreciation of Mr. Finney's 
successful cultivation of his disjointed and inconvenient holding 
by awarding him a high commendation. 
Mr. Aechee, Ashboubne Lodge, near Ashbourne. 
Class I. 
Dame Nature must have been in one of her most charming 
moods when she designed the country about Ashbourne, and 
those who chose the site of Ashbourne Lodge were good judges. 
Resting on a little platform, that may have been an old land- 
slip from the older hills, sheltered by its orchard behind, which, 
in turn, is sheltered by the hills above, flanked by its nicely- 
kept garden and shrubberies, and introduced by its pretty lawn, 
on which is a fountain fed by a perennial spring in the hills, 
the house looks out over the valley, with its brooklet, to the 
fields and hills on the other side. 
The homestead is but half a mile from Ashbourne, and the 
Midland Railway Station lies midway between. It is a scat- 
tered occupation, comprising 
* Some of the work is done by the piece, 10s. per acre being paid for cutting 
and heaping turnips, with 3s. Gd, more if soil is put over the heaps. Barley 
hoeing at about 58. per acre, mangold hoeing and singling 8s. per acre. 
