Farm-Prize Competition, 1880. 
537 
ascendinjy on the breeze. Just beneath, to the east, runs the 
busy railway which carries the traffic of all the important 
mining region towards Cleator and Furness, whilst in the same 
direction the mountains of Ennerdale offer some really fine and 
picturesque groups. 
As may be imagined, from the height and proximity to the 
sea, few trees are found capable of standing the gales in this 
exposed situation, and there is therefore an appearance of bare- 
ness which is only atoned for by the healthy situation and fine 
prospects. 
Nature of Land. — The farm, which consists of 500 acres, 
belongs to the Earl of Lonsdale, one of whose residences — 
Whitehaven Castle — is visible below. It is held from year to 
year, and has been occupied by Mr. Jefferson for many years. 
It is mostly heavy land (for this county), red in colour, on the 
Sandstone formation, beneath which coal is worked in this 
neighbourhood. The subsoil is clay, sandstone, and magnesian 
limestone. About 200 acres are arable, 200 acres pasture, and 
100 acres wood and waste, principally the rough ground which 
descends to the sea, of which Mr. Jefferson has a good two miles 
of boundary. The land is of good quality, yielding fine crops 
of corn and roots, but needing considerable care in its culti- 
vation, like most strong land. The pastures, though so elevated, 
are good, and carry a large head of stock. Mr. Jefferson occu- 
pies 80 acres more pasture-land near Egremont, at a distance 
of six miles from Preston Hows. 
There are coal-mines worked upon tjie farm very near the sea, 
under which the workings extend for great distances ; one is in 
the vicinity of the house ; and a railway incline, which carries 
the waggons to Whitehaven Harbour, intersects the occupa- 
tion. Add to this, that almost every field has a public foot- 
path through it, and that coal-miners are not proverbially the 
gentlest of human beings, and we have a certain amount of 
drawback even to the nearness to a good market and a large 
population. 
Cropping Course. — The usual course of cropping adopted on 
the farm is as follows : — 
(1.) Roots, principally swedes Avith a few mangolds, 25 
acres ; and bare fallow (the strongest land). 
(2.) Wheat (if season favours) or barley. 
(3, 4.) Seeds, mown first year and grazed second. (They 
are sometimes kept down three or four years.) 
(5.) Oats. 
Roots. — The land for the root-crops, swedes, mangolds, and 
white turnips is, if possible, manured in winter before the first 
