294 
Farm Prize Competition f 1913. 
these i districts. The Bath and West Show at Trnro, provisional 
valuations, and other pressing problems engaging landowners’ 
and land agents’ attention, were doubtless responsible to some 
extent, but this only reflects greater credit on those who did 
compete. 
A full list of the awards will be found in the Appendix. 
M. C. Duchesne. 
H. A. Pritchard. 
THE FARM PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 
The farm prize competitions in connection with the Bristol 
Meeting in 1913 covered a wide area, including as they did the 
three shires of Gloucester, Somerset and Dorset. Within the 
boundaries of these counties may be found almost every type 
of soil, climate, and of farming, from the calcareous soils of 
the Cotswolds and the Dorset Downs, with their large sheep 
population and characteristic arable farming down into the 
Cheddar valley and the rich dairying districts of Somerset. 
It is thirty-five years since the Society visited Bristol, and the 
year 1878 may be said almost to mark the beginning of the 
great period of depression which culminated in the early 
nineties, and from which we have only begun to recover 
during the past few years. In 1877 the average price of wheat 
was 56s. 9 d. t but in the year following it had dropped more 
than 10s., and thereafter the tendency was almost always to 
lower levels until bottom was touched in the year 1894 with 
the price at 22s. 10d It is not necessary here to refer to the 
causes of this fall, indeed they are generally known, but it* 
may be of interest to examine the changes in the agricultural 
population and in the crops and livestock on the land during 
that period as revealed by the agricultural and the census 
returns in the three counties covered by the competition. 
Briefly examining the accompanying returns (supplied by the 
kindness of Mr. R. H. Rew, C.B., of the Board of Agriculture 
and Fisheries), it appears that in Gloucestershire about 
81 per cent, of the total area of land and water is farmed 
at the present day, whilst in Somerset and in Dorset the 
proportions are 82 per cent, and 7 6 per cent, respectively. 
The area under cultivation has declined during the period 
1878-1912 in Gloucester by some 32 per cent., in Somerset 
38 per cent., and in Dorset by 28 per cent. As the total 
farming area shows practically no variation in the three 
counties it follows that the whole of the land gone out of 
cultivation has been laid down to permanent grass. Coming to 
