Derby Prize-Farm Competition, 1881. 
513 
A. R. P. 
The Lodge .. .. 199 2 3?> JOwned by J. Harrison, Esq., Snelstoue 
Booth's Pasture .. 23 3 0 \ Hall, Ashbourne. 
Ashbourne Green .. 36 1 23 /Owned by G. H. Errington, Esq., Lexden 
\ Park, Surrey. 
Wilson Farm .. .. 81 1 3 JOwiied by Lord Donington, Doniugton 
The Meers . . . . 9 0 0 \ Parlj, Leicestershire. 
Total, 350 acres ; of which 224 acres are pasture, and 125 
arable. 
The Lodge Farm is described in the Certificate of Entry as 
brown loam with various subsoils, mostly gravel and clay. It 
is quite hilly, the arable land lying furthest from the house, and 
at the top of the hills. This makes it troublesome and costly 
to cart manure up and the crops down. 
Crops. — This year there are 28 acres of corn, 15 green crops, 
6 fallow, 41 hay, and 25 seeds. No particular course of crop- 
ping is followed. The grass-land about the house is suited 
for dairy purposes, but not for sheep in such seasons as 1879-80, 
for during the last winter Mr. Archer has, unfortunately, lost 
nearly 100 ewes, though the land had never been known to rot 
sheep before. Lime had been applied to some of the grass-land 
with very excellent effect. 
Boot/is Pasture and Ashbourne Green were Avell stocked with 
useful Shropshire sheep ; altogether there were 305 sheep and 
lambs on the farms. Part of Ashbourne Green is used as 
a brick-yard, the bricks and drain-pipes being of excellent 
quality. 
Cattle. — About twenty-five cows are milked at the Lodge. 
They are of a useful type, showing good milking properties, and 
they were giving a good quantity of milk at each inspection. 
The price obtained is 10c?. per imperial gallon in winter (six 
months), and 8c?. in summer (six months), delivered in London, 
and the carriage costs l^c?. per gallon. The milk is cooled in a 
special and effective manner by a refrigerator designed by 
Mr. Archer. It consists of a narrow trough, reaching from the 
cow-shed above to the milk-house below, a distance of sixty feet. 
The trough, which is placed by the side of a wall, is made of 
tin, and has a wooden lid with hinges, so that it can easily be 
opened and kept clean and sweet. Immediately below the 
trough is a flattened lead pipe, which conveys water from a hill- 
side spring down the length of the trough. At the upper end is 
a small tank, at the lower end the trough broadens out into a 
wide channel, and ends in a lip over a steel-tinned tank, 
36 inches X 35 inches x 15 inches deep. The under-current of 
cold water is also spread out in like manner, so that the whole 
surface of the tin is cooled by water running below it. When a 
pail of milk is poured through the strainer into the upper recep- 
