270 
Farming of Buckinghamshire. 
25 miles, without any apparent cause for the irregularity. 
The extreme length of Buckinghamshire is 53 miles, and its 
greatest width 27. It contains 730 square miles, or 466,932 
acres,* and is divided into 8 hundreds, and 224 parishes or 
places, having 15 so-called market-towns. Of these the most 
important are Aylesbury, Wycombe, and Buckingham, which 
have all good corn-markets, while some have excellent markets 
for stock or monthly fairs, at which much business is transacted. 
Aylesbury market is always well supplied with stock, and a large 
quantity of corn is sold there. Buckinghamshire in 1851 contained 
163,723 inhabitants; in 1801 the population was 108,132, being 
an increase of 51 per cent, in the last 50 years. This increase 
is about the same as in other adjoining agricultural counties, 
and the population about as numerous, there being 224 persons 
to a square mile, and nearly 5 inhabitants to a house. The four 
towns of Aylesbury, Buckingham, Wycombe, and Marlow, Avhicli 
contain 47,822 persons, return 8 members to parliament, while 
the rest of the population, 115,901, is represented by the 3 
county members. 
The climate of this county of course varies with its altitude 
and aspect. Some elevated portions of the Chiltern Hills are 
bleak and cold, but generally speaking the temperature is similar 
to that of other midland counties. The depth of rain is com- 
monly greater than that of the south-eastern district, but this 
year, as much of the rain came from that quarter, it is less. The 
following accurate meteorological observations, taken at Hartwell 
Rectory near Aylesbury, which is near the centre of the county, 
will give a good idea of the variation of temperature and fall 
of rain during the last three years : — 
Depth of Eain, in inches . . 
Mean Temperature of the Year 
1852. 1853. 1854. 
.. 33-886 27-097 14-343 
.. 49" 27' 46" 48' 48° 05' 
The seasons of 1852 and 1853 were both wet. The depth of 
rain Avill readily account for it in the former year, while the 
number of wet and cloudy days made the latter season damp and 
cold. The year just passed will long be remembered for its 
dryness. In the six months of February, March, April, June, 
September, and November, the fall of rain was only 3^^ inches, 
while for the whole year, as above recorded, it amounted to little 
more than 14 inches, not half the quantity which fell in 1852. 
It was a particularly good year for the stiff arable lands of Buck- 
* By the 7 and 8 Vict., c. 61, Lillingstone-Lovell, Boycott, and Coleshill •were 
annexed to Bucks, while other outlying parishes were severed from it. By this 
exchange the county gains a.^SQ acres and 617 inhahitants. The old Keport put 
down the county at 393,(J0O acres. 
