272 
Farm  Prize  Competition,  1909. 
Class  I. — First  Prize  Farm. 
Occupied  hy  Mr.  G.  Caines  Waters,  Burcomhe  Manor,  near 
Salisbury. 
This  farm  is  held  on  a yearly  tenancy  under  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  and  consists  of  about  750  acres,  made  up  of  392 
acres  arable,  50  acres  pasture,  50  acres  water  meadows,  and  for 
the  rest,  down  land,  homestead,  and  a small  orchard. 
The  soil  is  a light  loam,  with  chalk  subsoil.  It  is  not  rich 
soil,  and  must  only  be  ploughed  to  a depth  of  three  or  four 
inches  on  account  of  the  subsoil,  which  would  convert  the 
friable  land  into  an  impossible  seed-bed.  It  is  essentially 
sheep  land,  which  under  a good  and  well-managed  flock  and 
careful  cultivation  will  produce  good  results.  Both  of  these 
conditions  obtain  at  Burcombe  Manor  Farm. 
The  tenant  is  not  bound  to  any  prescribed  form  of  crop- 
ping, but  is  under  agreement  not  to  crop  more  than  half 
of  the  land  with  corn  in  any  one  year.  Of  the  arable  land, 
332  acres  (of  which  83  are  in  one  field)  are  worked  on  a four- 
course  system  : — 
“ Seeds  ” Roots 
I I 
Roots  Roots 
Wheat 
Barley  (or  Oats) 
“ Catch  Crops  ” “ Seeds  ” 
I I 
Roots  Roots 
Wheat. 
Starting  with  the  wheat  crop — half  of  this  is  taken  after 
clover  “ seeds  ” mixture  which  has  .been  “ hayed  ” once, 
grazed,  and  followed  by  turnips  which  are  eaten  on  ; the  other 
half  being  after  a double  crop  of  roots,  also  fed  on.  Barley  or 
oats  follow  wheat.  Half  of  the  barley  or  oat  area  is  under- 
sown with  clover  “ seeds  ” mixture,  the  other  half  being  used 
for  catch  cropping,  commencing  with  rye  (April),  followed  by 
Italian  rye-grass  (May),  followed  by  vetches  (June  and  part  of 
July).  Roots  follow  on  both  the  clover  ley  land  and  the  “ catch 
crop  ” land,  and  then  we  come  again  to  wheat.  The  other 
60  acres  of  arable  land  are  up  on  the  adjoining  Down,  and 
are  known  as  “ Beak  ” land.  Here  oats  are  grown  alternately 
with -turnips,  20  acres  being  set  apart  for  each  crop  ; the 
