314 
Farm Prize Competition , 1913. 
The mangolds were not good, but neither was the soil very 
suitable. Mr. McEwen- Smith drills a few carrots with them 
and these are always left at singling to provide a few roots for 
the horses m the winter— a good idea. The potatoes were half 
a failure, but the condition of the soil— harsh, intractable clods 
—showed the difficulty of working the land, and indicated the 
great skill necessary to secure the wonderful corn crops seen 
The tenant had a fine bed of cabbage and kohl rabi for planting 
out. It is his custom to fill up the mangolds with kohl rabi 
a practice which should be universal instead of rare, and 
one which shows the ability of the man to make the most of 
his land. 
The Avheat was particularly fine, with a very heavy crop of 
straw foi which the tenant said he has a market up to 4 1. per 
ton. Of this he takes full advantage, even to the extent of 
sowing wheat in February instead of barley. 
The glass land, which constitutes the more important part 
of the holding, showed considerable variations. The home 
pasture carried a beautiful close sward, and was exceptional in 
this respect, the reason possibly being that it is always grazed 
whereas the rest of the fields are grazed and mown in alternate' 
years— a most undesirable practice. Another questionable 
custom m the management of the meadow land is that of 
spring grazing up to May 1. This pushes back the hay harvest 
until the end of July or August, before there is enough bulk to 
cut, with the result that fog, barley-grass, &c., ripen, and shed 
their seed. The proportion of these grasses in the fields was 
too high. Some of the fields, too, contained a good deal of 
rattle, and of quaking grass, but these were not to be found in 
any quantity in a field where surface grips had been cut many 
years ago on account of a liability to flood. A quantity of 
street sweepings are carted from Bristol and spread upon the 
fields to be mown. Mr. McEwen-Smith illustrates a change 
that is coming over the process of hay-making, in that he uses 
only a swath-turner ; and the old tedder, once thought indis- 
pensable, is now only brought into operation in cases where 
rain has thoroughly saturated the swath. The Judges commented 
on the poor quality of some of the grass land, and expressed 
the opinion that too much hay was being made and sold 
Owing, however, to the wonderful situation of the farm as 
regards markets, there is no doubt that almost everything grown 
on it must be capable of direct marketing, and so lone as 
adequate provision is made to protect the holding, the tenant 
would seem to have some reason for taking full advantage of 
nis position. & 
The horses were good, and eminently suited for the work. 
- pair of very active half-bred horses were suggestive of the old 
