The Fa/rm Prize Competition of 1892. 
557 
method of book-keeping had been followed, account only being 
taken of sums spent for labour and manures. An exception 
must, however, be made with regard to the accounts kept by 
Messrs. Palmer, Thornley, James, Cubberley, and Grimes. The 
first two of these gentlemen have valuations made every year 
by a professional valuer, and the accounts were shown in perfect 
form, contrasting very strongly with the greater number of the 
competitors. 
Before closing these preliminary remarks, we must express 
the gi’eat pleasure Ave experienced on finding that the old good 
feeling of confidence between landlord and tenant is still very 
strong in Warwickshire. Many of the competitors have spent 
large amounts of money on the improvement of their farms and 
premises, with only a yearly agreement to fall back on, and no 
clause in this giving compensation for the money thus expended. 
Class I. — First Prize Farm. 
Occupied h)j Mr. John Palmer, Ilampton-on-IIill, Warwiclc. 
To Mr. John Palmer belongs the honour of having gained 
the chief prize for farms offered by the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England in 1892. 
His farm, which he holds nnder Lord Donner, stands, as its 
name implies, on a hill, overlooking a beautifully wooded valley 
about two miles from Warwick, and fronting the majestic old 
Castle, which stands (embowered with magnificent and stately 
trees) on a rock, the base of which is washed by the River Avon. 
It consists of 381 acres, 218 of which are arable and 163 
grass land, and has been in the occupation of the family for more 
than fifty years, Mr. Palmer’s father having entered upon the 
farm in 1839. The surface soil is heavy, with a clay subsoil, 
and the land is, as nearly as possible, absolutely “ clean,” and 
in making use of this expression we are not only referring to 
twitch, but also to annual weeds. In fact, the extraordinary 
absence of weeds of every description was the “ feature,” so to 
speak, of this farm. 
The fences were beautifully kept, and where gaps had 
occurred they had been filled up by reaches of iron fencing. 
Many hundreds of yards of quick fences had been raised, and, 
by their strong growth and thickness, showed the care and 
attention that had been bestowed upon them. It is only right 
to mention that these had all been planted by the tenant and his 
father at their own expense. In many. places the old fences 
had been stubbed up, and their place supplied by iron fencing. 
