28G Farming of Bachinghamshire. 
tion of clay, too loose to grow vetches to advantage : on such soils 
rape is substituted for vetches, and the cropping the same as 
before. On some of the dairy and grazing farms, where the arable 
land bears a very insignificant proportion to the grass, there corn 
is constantly grown, as straw is much in requisition, and manure 
is always to be had. Thus wheat, beans, barley or oats, and 
beans, succeed each other, and wheat begins again ; though some- 
times the beans are left out, and vetches fed off, or a root crop 
is grown instead. 
On the great oolite, north of Buckingham, the four- course is 
prevalent, but as there is much grass-land, very little clover is 
grown, and beans are more general. Besides this rotation, on the 
same sort of land beyond Wolverton is the six-course : turnips, 
barley or oats, clover, wheat, beans, wheat ; others have turnips, 
oats, clover, beans, wheat; or again, a five-course, turnips, oats, 
clover, wheat, and then barley or oats. These are the most 
general systems of cropping to be found in the county : there are 
numerous other varieties here and there, which, if recorded, would 
only tire the reader. Almost every existing course of cropping 
is to be seen in Bucks, and if some few of the peculiarities were 
confined within its limits, it would be greatly to the advantage 
of agriculture. 
Tlie fallow or root-crop being the commencement of all rota- 
tions, the preparation of the land during that year must first be 
considered. On some of the light loams in the south, a few 
swedes, but more especially turnips, are preceded by a green 
crop of rye or vetches, which is mostly fed off with sheep. Very 
few roots are grown on the ridge or baulk, almost all on the flat, 
principally drilled at distances varying from 14 to 22 inches. 
Ridging is mostly practised by landed proprietors and gentlemen. 
At Fawley Court the ridging system is seen in great perfection ; 
but on those hot gravels and dry chalky banks one would imagine 
the flat a better way to keep out the summer's sun. This estate 
seems particularly unfortunate with regard to the introduction of 
excellent systems, which are not calculated for the soil or climate. 
In the last Report, the then proprietor had planted a colony of 
Northumberland tenants, who now exist only in name, and it 
requires no great foresight to predict that the baulking of turnips, 
and the house-feeding of sheep on such land will make but few 
converts in the neighbourhood. The Liverpool swede is most 
common throughout the county, though Laing's, Matson's, and 
other pretty varieties are extensively grown. In dry seasons like 
the last, such small sorts have not leaf enough to extract moisture 
from the atmosphere, and the Skirvings with their full foliage 
were consequently much heavier. Mangolds were not grown in 
1809, and are not yet so much cultivated as they ought to be : 
