AGRICULTURE 



colour or skin. On the whole it may be said that the farming on these 

 high grounds is not of a very advanced kind, and is certainly not improved 

 by the very general habit of picking stones and selling them to the 

 highway authorities. In the spring the teams are frequently on the 

 road carting stones when they ought to be cleaning the land. Moreover 

 many good judges condemn the excessive picking of stones as being 

 distinctly injurious to the good farming of the land. 



In the Vale of Aylesbury, which may roughly be said to extend 

 from beyond Buckingham to Amersham, the conditions are very 

 different. A rich, kindly working land rests on strong blue clay, and is 

 capable of making a splendid return for any outlay. Experience has 

 taught the farmers of that favoured district that grass is the natural 

 product of the land, grass of a quality, both for milking and feeding 

 purposes, hardly surpassed in any district in England. Consequently 

 one may travel mile after mile and hardly see a ploughed field. Many 

 acres have been laid down to grass, and are being laid down every year ; 

 for, though the land will yield fine crops of wheat and beans, it is found 

 that grass gives a better return. It is delightful to see the great broad- 

 backed oxen in the pastures, and the whole vale has a pleasing air of 

 prosperity. There is a good deal more arable land at the Amersham 

 end of the vale, which is, in the bottoms, capable of growing any 

 ordinary farm crop in the most satisfactory way. A stroll along those 

 pleasant valleys, with their snug farmhouses, and well filled folds and 

 stackyards, is a delightful experience in thesedays of agricultural de- 

 pression. There is another fine stretch of country on the high ground 

 dividing the Thames and Ouse watersheds. The road from Waddesdon 

 through Winchendon and the pleasing village of Long Crendon to 

 Thame traverses some excellent land, suitable for both roots and corn. 

 With the advent of the Great Central Railway this country will 

 soon become better known. 



In giving a description of the system of cultivation in Buckingham- 

 shire, there is not the four-course shift which was all but universal for 

 years in the Eastern Counties to start with as a base. Any deviation 

 from that course used to be looked upon by a Norfolk or Suffolk farmer 

 as flat heresy, which nothing but extraordinary circumstances could in 

 any way justify. There does not seem to be any corresponding feeling 

 in this county. No very strict routine is observed, but so far as there is 

 a regular shift it takes the character of a five-course one, namely rst, 

 fallow or roots ; 2nd, barley or oats ; 3rd, clover or peas ; 4th, wheat ; 

 5th, barley or oats. The greater part of the turnips is eaten on the land 

 by the sheep, and the plough is kept going as close to the fold as may 

 be. Mangolds, which grow extremely well in many parts, are kept in 

 clamps for the stock in the yards and for the sheep in spring. The 

 c Yellow Globe ' and the ' Golden Tankard ' are the most popular varie- 

 ties, and, owing to their early maturity, many growers do not hesitate 

 to use them in December or even earlier. Oats come well and gener- 

 ally yield a heavy crop after roots, but barley is apt to be coarse and not 



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