Report on the Farm-Prize Competition, 1870. 253 
iVheat. — The treatment of the seed-shift, already described, is 
the first preparation for the wheat -crop. Tlie clover -h;y is 
ploughed up as soon as the weather permits, then rolled with the 
Cambridge roll; and about 10 pecks of seed are drilled in during 
the month of October. The usual varieties sown are the Scotch 
White Chaff-red and the Improved Lincolnshire White. In 
the spring the wheat is hoed where it is thought necessary, but 
not otherwise. Somewhat later, thistles, docks, and weeds of all 
sorts are carefully taken out. 
No kind of top-dressing is applied to the wheat-crop, l)ut I 
venture to give an opinion that small dressings of nitrate of soda 
mixed with salt, judiciously applied several times in the spring, 
would yield a good return for the outlay. The effect would be 
to bring up all the small ears, and to produce a more even, and 
therefore a more productive crop. 
Wheat is cut with a reaper, and is tied and shocked by men 
and women at 4^. 6f/. per acre. Two reapers are employed, and 
two pairs of horses are allotted to each, with frequent changes ; 
by this means 3G acres are usually cut in the day. The pitching 
and unloading are done by the acre, usually at a price of from 
l.y. 10c?. to 2s. The stacking is performed by the foreman- 
labourer, assisted by carters and boys. Thatching costs Ad. per 
square of 100 feet. No beer is given, and the whole cost of the 
wheat and barley harvest amounts to about lis. per acre. 
Cattle. — No cattle are bred, and only a few young steers are 
kept in the summer ; about 70 head of cattle are wintered in the 
strawyards. They have a very small allowance of roots, but a 
liberal allowance of linseed cake. They are sold in the spring, 
and are never fatted out. If they pay the cost of the cake con- 
sumed, it is all that is expected of them. Paradoxical as this 
may appear to the uninitiated, the practical farmer will under- 
stand that, on light poor land, the more turnips that can be fed on 
the land by sheep, the better ; and therefore to attempt to fatten 
oxen to any extent would necessitate more turnip carting — in- 
creased expense with little or no extra profit ; the only object of 
keeping cattle on a light-land arable farm being the conversion 
of the straw into good manure. 
Sheep. — A flock of 400 Lincoln ewes is kept, and the produce 
does not generally exceed a lamb to an ewe. After weaning, the 
ewes are kept on seeds and stubbles until the white mustard is 
ready, towards the middle of September, when thev are put to 
Lincoln rams, which remain with them five or six weeks. During 
the remainder of the autumn and winter they are moved about 
the farm, and, for a month or two before lambing, are allowed 
J lb. of cotton cake per day. This allowance is increased, some 
