AGRICULTURE 



price, while on others it is at consuming price of two-thirds the value. 

 Dung is generally paid for. Farmhouses are as a rule fairly good, but 

 the accommodation in many of them is very primitive and not in accord- 

 ance with modern ideas. The average tenant is not, however, very 

 exacting in that respect. On some estates, of course, the houses are 

 excellent. The farm buildings are mostly commodious and afford good 

 shelter for the stock, and the spacious barns are invaluable. Happily 

 the doctrine, which prevailed a few years since, that barns had served 

 their purpose and were no longer wanted, has had its day. 



The cottages are generally good and comfortable, if not very 

 picturesque. Most of them have a fair-sized garden, and, where 

 feasible, it will be found that a moderate addition to the garden is vastly 

 more useful to the tenant than an allotment very likely some distance 

 away. Cottage rents in Bucks average from is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per week, 

 but they are a good deal higher in parts of the Thames Valley. 



The regular labourers on the farms are tacitly hired by the year. 

 About 1 3^. a week, with a little extra in hay and harvest time, and from 

 2 to 3 given at Michaelmas, known as ' Michaelmas money,' is about 

 the average wage. Carters and shepherds get a little more, and the 

 latter usually have head money for the lambs, about 5J. per score on 

 all lambs reared by a certain day. 



Unfortunately the outlook for labour on farms generally is not an 

 encouraging one ; and, in the Home Counties within the radius of 

 London's attractive influence, it is a very serious question. There is, 

 moreover, no cottage building going on, owing, among other things, to 

 the restrictions of the County Council's bye-laws. A cottage tumbling 

 to pieces is a far more common sight than one being erected. Agita- 

 tion, however, against these regulations may in the future lead to their 

 relaxation and a renewal of building operations. 



In the matter of cattle and sheep, Bucks, unlike many of its neigh- 

 bouring counties, has no distinct breed of its own. Arthur Young, at 

 the end of the i8th century, found the Longhorns in possession, and 

 Youatt, writing later, reports the same state of things. The latter cer- 

 tainly claimed that the Bucks breed of Longhorns was distinct ; modern 

 breeders, however, would hardly agree with him, but would class them 

 with the ordinary Midland stock, the points of difference being too 

 slender to constitute a separate breed. Longhorns are still kept in the 

 late Duke of Buckingham's noted park at Stowe, and certainly the herd 

 is worthy of its beautiful surroundings. If Bucks has no breed of cattle 

 of its own, it certainly contains worthy representatives of most of the 

 best breeds. Shorthorns of the purest and most fashionable strains are 

 to be found in many parts. Notably at Waddesdon Manor, where the 

 Hon. Alice Rothschild has some magnificent cattle capable of holding 

 their own anywhere. Not far away Mr. Leopold Rothschild has at 

 Ascott a fine herd, and near Bletchley Mr. Leon is an active patron of 

 the breed. At Hambleden, near Henley, the Hon. F. Smith has a 

 small but very select herd. 



