OXFORDSHIRE. 
The fyftem of common field hufbandry abe ey 
nw de in repute, and the whole count early in- 
ley or {pring ea 3 3, clover; 4, wheat; 5. beans or a 
, oats. On the Stonebrafh eee I, Earp 2, bar. arley, 
with clover, cate ot trefoil, or mixed; 3 and 4, clover, 
&c. as ab one or two years; 5, Ww oe on once 
ploughing ; 6, oats, s, or beans; 7, fainfoin. In the 
2, barley ; 3, clover, or trefoil and ray- “grals ; 3 4, wheat, and 
5» oats, barley, peas, or vetches. ong the crops only 
Dac but she culture or he 
which ufed to be raifed in confiderable quantities, ) is now 
almoft entirely negleCted. 
From the number of its rivers Oxfordfhire abounds in 
meadows and paftures ; but thefe are no longer, as in the 
time of Gibfon, the “ greateft glory’? of the county, being 
much circum{cribed by the encroachments of arable cultiva- 
tion. A large tract of meadow land, on the banks of the 
Charwell, has been greatly injured by the conftruGion of 
the canal from Oxford to Banbury. At Water Eaton is 
the beft grafs land in the county. — It is igi pape which 
see conftitute the appropriation of m meadow 
e gr dfhire S Bees is he suet ares 
Cy 
market. e 
found in Oxfordthire, ane A Raa) places are esemey 
well adapted for their form 
Forefis, Woods, and Piao +Oxfordfhire is faid by 
its 
Eng- 
js e only forelt, _ however, within its boundaries, is 
hat of Whichwood 
entirely by the falling of the 
the ol 
defcribed by Leland as ftretching 120 miles weitward from 
the borders of Kent. This opinion, however, is merely 
conjectural, though in fome dope plauf 
The other principal wood-lands in this county are thofe 
at Stanton-St.-John, called the ‘‘ Quarters,’’ and at Blen- 
heim, the of the duke of Marlborough. Smaller 
plantations are numerous: almoft every gentleman’s feat in 
Oxfordfhire ne more or lefs {urrounded with trees of dif- 
ferent ye and for 
e Lands. oT he only tracts of wafte land, of any very 
pontidenbie extent, are thofe fituated in the purlieus of 
Whichwood-foreft, and the deanery diftri€, termed Ott- 
contains about 4000 acres, is commonable to eight adjoining 
townfhips. The whole of it is extremely flat and wet, and 
confequently unwholefome to cattle, as well as prejudicial 
to the neighbourhood. = foil, however, is good, and if 
drained, (which might eafily effeted,) and rae fed, 
would undoubtedly prove highly amenable to the purpofes 
of agriculture. The value of the grounds would thereby 
a tc probably ten times their prefent amount. 
fame may be faid of the wafte lands of Whichwood, and 
of ae {mall commons in the northern diftri@ ; but tho: >t in 
the Chiltern divifion are not fufceptible of much cultur 
oads and Canals.—The roads of nea till within 
bad. 
“ View o 
improvement has taken place : 
the county in the dire€tion of all its market-towns, and the 
greater part of the iad and cro{s-ways are improved in 
a proportional degeee 
The only canal yet cut through ary portion of Oxford- 
fhire is that which enters the county at its Hosthera ex- 
tremity, between Claydon and the ‘Three-fhire-ftone. “ Ap- 
proaching the vicinage of the river Charwell at Cropredy, it 
proceeds at a {mall diftance from the banks of that river to 
the city of Oxford, (whence it is called the Oxford canal, ) 
where its channel terminates, and is fucceeded by the navi- 
gation of the Ifis.”” The probable advantages which will 
accrue from this cut are very great, as a direct water com- 
munication has been thereby opened between the interior of 
the county, and Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchefter, and 
the Wednefbury collieries, as well as with the cities of Lon- 
don and Britftol. 
Civil and Ecclefiaftical Divifions. Ash bad es is divided 
into fourteen hundreds, evan together contain 1 ci 
12 market-towns, and 207 tow nd par oS all of 
two knights o ti 
prefentatives for A aa ty, two baneelles for Wood- 
ock, om one for ury. 
ures. ov Hitherto, at leaft, paselper aie has had 
little clan to be ranked among the num of the manu- 
sae counties of England. Its sails: of manufaCtured 
uce are neither numerous nor of great importance. 
Winey blankets, indeed, were formerly much noted ; but 
this branch of trade is 
Wo is all manufaéture of polifhed fteel ar- 
ticles, which was introduced by - Medcalfe, and was 
at time in a very flourifhing ftate. Here is likewife a 
manufacture of leather breeches and of gloves, which employs 
about 70 men, and 1400 or 1500 women and The 
wages of the men are from one guinea to 30s. weekly, and 
thofe of the women from 8s. to 125. per week. A {mall 
quantity of lace is made in the town and neighbourhood of 
Thame ; and at Bloxham and Banbury a coarfe fort of 
velvet is produced. Henley has, for feveral centuries, been 
one of the London depots for malt. 
xfordfhire certainly does not offer fuch a 
as many other counties ; but, 
quiry, by no means unworthy of attention. Several very 
curious Britith coins have been found within its limits, and 
there 
