Farm  Prize  Competition,  1909. 
289 
the  farm  varies  from  60  or  80  during  the  summer  months, 
according  to  the  quantity  of  grass,  to  140,  including  stores, 
during  the  winter — being  bought  in  or  sold  out  according 
to  circumstances  and  market  value.  The  cattle  seen  were 
good  and  suitable  for  their  respective  purposes. 
Sheep. — The  flock  consisted  of  252  breeding  ewes,  130 
yearling  ewes,  198  wethers  feeding  on  roots,  3 rams,  and 
later  362  lambs,  all  of  the  Shropshire  breed.  About  250  ewes 
are  put  to  the  ram.  The  lambs  are  kept  on  cut  roots  during 
the  winter  with  about  lb.  “ corn  ” per  day  for  wethers  and 
feeding  sheep,  and  half  the  corn  for  young  ewes.  When  the 
feeding  (fattening)  sheep  come  off  the  roots  they  have  man- 
golds on  the  pastures  until  the  clovers  are  ready,  with  about  | lb. 
cake  and  corn  per  head,  and  are  sold  off  during  May  and  June. 
The  cake  and  corn  mixture  for  sheep  consists  of  linseed  cake, 
cotton  cake,  crushed  oats,  and  peas.  The  ewes  in  “ yean  ” have 
hay  and  a few  roots  on  the  pasture  during  winter.  All  draft 
ewes  are  sold  out  in  August  for  stock  purposes.  The  best  of 
the  ewe  lambs  are  retained  for  the  flock,  the  remainder  being 
fattened  off  with  the  wether  sheep. 
Pigs. — About  half-a-dozen  “ store”  pigs  of  the  White  Breed 
and  two  “ baconers  ” are  bought,  to  act  as  scavengers  and 
supply  the  household. 
Manures  and  Feeding  Stuffs. — The  system  of  manuring 
here  adopted  is  practically  to  manure  once  only  during  the 
course  of  the  rotation,  viz.  : for  the  root  crops,  excepting 
where  necessary  to  “ start  ” or  “ touch  up  ” a crop.  The  roots 
receive  all  the  farmyard  manure,  which  is  spread  out  thinly 
over  a large  area  and  supplemented  with  ground  bones  and 
other  fertilisers.  Ground  bones  enter  very  largely  into  Mr. 
Hawkins’  scheme  of  manuring,  and  are  applied  at  from  4 to 
7 cwt.  per  acre.  The  grinding  of  the  bones  is  all  done  at 
the  farm  by  a Harrison  & Carter  disintegrator.  The  bones 
are  bought  at  about  4Z.  per  ton,  ground  down  to  “ meal  ” and 
used  raw. 
Artificial  manures  purchased  amount  to  117Z.  per  annum. 
Home-grown  produce  consumed  at  home  is  valued  at  250Z. 
Purchased  foods  amount  to  360Z.  for  linseed  cake  and  cotton 
cake,  and  254Z.  for  corn.  This  totals  to  981Z.  per  annum,  and 
works  out  at  36s.  4d.  per  acre,  not  including  manures  made 
at  home. 
Buildings  and  Implements. — The  farm  is  supplied  with 
ample  buildings,  which  consist  of  two  large  yards  facing 
south  with  deep  shelter  sheds  and  gangways,  forming  a lean- 
to  to  the  main  range  of  feeding  houses,  machinery  houses, 
granaries,  three  large  Dutch,  barns,  &c.,  and  is  replete  with 
modern  implements  and  macliinery,  all  well  looked  after.  A 
VOL.  70.  U 
