BERKSHIllE AND BUCKS. CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 3 



duced white straw grain, or pulse, as soon as it is carried off the land at 

 harvest, and prepare and sow it with rye, tares, or any other seeds, or plant 

 it with cabbages or other plants for the spring feeding of cattle or sheep. 



Berkshire and Bucks. — The customs are nearly identical in these two 

 counties. Michaelmas is always the time of entry, and there is no 

 other time of quitting. The incoming tenant pays for all acts of hus- 

 bandry. It is the custom not to allow more than two white straw 

 crops to be taken in succession. Many tenants are allowed to sell wheat 

 straw, but the general principle is that the incoming tenant takes to it 

 at a valuation. The hay is taken to sometimes at a consuming price, 

 sometimes at a market price ; in fact there is no standing custom at all 

 respecting it. The manure of the last two years is usually considered 

 the incoming tenant's property, provided the outgoing tenant had it 

 when he entered. There is no compensation for the purchase of arti- 

 ficial food or manure, nor for drainage or chalking, or, in fact, for any 

 durable improvements of the land, except under special agreements. It 

 is often stipulated that a certain number of sheep shall be kept on the 

 farm during the last year by the outgoing tenant, to September 29th, 

 and folded on those points of the farm the incoming tenant may select. 

 After the farm buildings have been put in repair, the general rule is 

 that the tenant is to keep them so, the landlord finding rough materials 

 and the tenant workmanship. 



Camlrklfjeshire. — There are so many varieties of land in this county 

 that it is difficult to define accurately what custom obtains. In the 

 fens no regular system of cropping prevails, as the variety of seasons 

 sets all regular rotation at defiance ; in many instances wheat and 

 bran have been grown alternately for years, while on others, potatoes, 

 rape and mangel-wurzel are alternated with wheat and oats. On the 

 high land the old Norfolk four-course system is usually adoiDted, viz., 

 wheat, roots, barley, seeds, but in some districts the use of artificial 

 manures has permitted and rendered profitable the introduction of the 

 five-course system, in which case barley is grown after wheat. Where 

 long leases are granted, tenants are usually allowed to crop without 

 restriction, provided the condition of the land is maintained, except 

 during the last four years of their tenancy, wherein the four-course 

 system is to be strictly adhered to. It is customary for the outgoing 

 tenant to prepare the fallows and sow the small seeds, and to be paid 

 for these by the incoming tenant. Hay is paid for at a consuming 

 price, and the incoming tenant takes the last year's straw and chaff, but 

 pays for the thrashing, dressing, and delivery, within a reasonable distance. 



B 2 



