The Farm Prize Competition 0 / 1892. 
577 
Class II. — Secokd Pbizr Farm. 
Occupied hi) Mr. Richard Coles, Qffchvrcli, near Leamington. 
This farm, which gains the Second Prize in Class II., is 
situated about miles west from Leamington, and is held 
on a yearly tenancy from the Dowager Countess of Aylesford. 
It consists of 122 acres of arable and 111 of grass land. 
The soil is principally of a light and gravelly natui-e, but in 
one or two fields a strong clay is met with. The six-course 
system is followed in a somewhat modified form. A large 
number of sheep are bred and fed, which in some measure 
accounts for its high state of fertility. Mr. Coles is ably assisted 
in the management of the farm by his two sons, who are well 
versed in every detail of the business. 
The homestead is at the west corner of the farm, is roomy 
and substantially built, well guttei-ed, and with good drainage. 
Horses. — Five working horses are kept, ranging from three 
years old to nine, and are a very good and sound lot. A foal or 
two is bred every year, and thus the team is kept up without 
any large expenditure. 
Cattle. — Fifty-one head of Shorthorn cattle were here, on 
our first visit, made up as follows : — Nine cows in-milk or in- 
calf, one feeding heifer, one feeding bullock, eleven two-and-a- 
half-yeai’-old steers and heifers (ten of these J\rr. Coles’s own 
breeding), seven one-and-a-half-year-old steers and heifers, 
fifteen yearlings, six calves, and one pedigree Shorthorn bull, 
“ Forester,” by “ Lord of the Forest.” These cattle are, with few 
exceptions, bred on the farm, and all looked in very nice 
condition. The cows are generally fatted off after they have 
had the fourth or fifth calf. A little milk is sold at Is. per 
gallon in the summer, and Is. 4(£. in the winter ; skim- 
milk making Ad. a gallon. Butter is principally made, and 
this is sold at an average price of about Is. 2cL per lb. 
Sheep. — Sheep management is one of the strong points on this 
farm, 267 sheep being kept at our first visit ; 116 of these were 
breeding ewes of a cross between the Oxford Down and the Shrop- 
shire, and were of very uniform character, with plenty of size and 
good fleeces. Sixty-five feeding wether tegs were having sliced 
swedes and | lb. of cake and beans mixed ; twelve had just been 
sent to the sale (February), and brought home 48s. each. All 
of them had been sold before our second visit, part of them out 
of the wool, at an average of 47s. each. One Shropshire ram and 
one Oxford Down ram are kept. Eighty-four store tegs were 
eating white turnips, and got about \ lb. each of beans and 
