OXFORDSHIRE. 25 



to find the tiles and tlic tenant the labour, for which he gets an allow- 

 ance ; but the agreements by which the land is held from year to year 

 usually define the allowances which the tenant is to receive on quitting, 



Oxfordshire. — The time of entry in Oxfordshire is generally at 

 Michaelmas. The incoming tenant pays the outgoing tenant for the 

 ploughing, manure, seed, hoeing, &c., upon the turnip land, and gene- 

 rally takes a portion of the hay at a spending price. He pays for the 

 clover-seed, and other seeds sown with the barley. This applies espe- 

 cially to the district round Chipping Norton. The dung which is made 

 from the last crop belongs to the incoming tenant, in w^hatever way it 

 is made. Compensation is very seldom given for any improvements 

 made by the outgoing tenant; it has been given for bones and guano, 

 but generally speaking there is none, and hardly any for draining. 

 Tenancies usually commence on New ]\Iichaelmas-day, The outgoing 

 tenant may enter on the wheatlands in August, and has half the stable 

 from that date; but at Michaelmas, when the new tenant arrives, the 

 old occupant gives up only half the house. He retains the other moiety, 

 a portion of the stable, all the barns, sheds, and yards till the follow- 

 ing May or June. The outgoing tenant of course thrashes and delivers 

 his corn himself. He also spends the " straw, chaff, and caving " in 

 the yards, leaving the manure for the new tenant. The usual covenants 

 are, that the outgoing tenant should be paid for all operations of 

 husbandry performed in the preparation of the ground for root crops or 

 fallows. The turnips, &c., are valued by the number of ploughings, 

 hoeings, and cost of manuring, and not by the worth of the crop. Fal- 

 lows are similarly paid for, and thus the land is often ploughed in wet 

 weather, and little attempt is made to clean it, as the price depends 

 more upon what has been done than on the manner in which it has been 

 performed. The price allowed for ploughing of course varies on dif- 

 ferent soils from 8s. to 14s. an acre. The incoming tenant takes to all, 

 or only half, the hay and wheat-straw at a spending price, and the out- 

 going tenant retains the rest of the produce. Large sums have been 

 borrowed from the Government for drainage, and refunded at the rate 

 of Gi per cent, for twenty-one years. Some landlords make the tenants 

 pay all this charge ; while others drain the land themselves, and charge 

 the tenants 5 per cent. ; and on some estates it is customary for the 

 landlord to find pipes, and the tenant to perform the labour of under- 

 draining. The greater part of the college property is let on leases of 

 twenty-one years, renewable every seven years. The fine is something 

 less than one year's income : and the college has the power of increasing 

 it, and may renew the lease or not, at option. The lessee is supposed 



