288 
Farming of Buchinghavxshire. 
tion. The Rev. St. John Priest, in his last Report, beino^ a 
Norfolk man, felt particularly disgusted that fallows were not 
ploughed " over wart " or across. He also seemed greatly to dis- 
approve of the rough state in which the fallows were left, and 
strongly recommends the more frequent use of the harrow and 
roll. Now, lor the purpose of extracting couch of course the 
soil must be thoroughly pulverised, but for the common purposes 
of fallowing, or resting the land, the Bucks farmers prefer a 
rough to a fine tilth. It is still the incorrigible practice, in 
some parts of the county, not to give the fallows the first plough- 
ing till the month of May, by which time the couch and other 
weeds have taken deep and entire possession of the land, and 
the ploughing is frequently a work of great difficulty. The 
tearing up such land in dry weather at this season is thought to 
do it immense good, but greater good would result had the land 
been ploughed in the autumn and cx{)osed, in a rough state, to 
the winter's frost. 
All soils are formed by the disintegration of rocks and 
minerals, and as decomposition takes place slov/ly in clay soils, 
such lands often require a fallow to reduce the soil to a texture 
in which, by its solubility and other properties, it can sustain the 
life of plants. A succession of corn crops exhausts the available 
matters ; a fresh portion of the soil is acted upon and rendered 
soluble during the year's fallow by atmospheric action. The 
larger and more varied the surface to be acted on, the Cj[uicker 
will the chemical changes ])n)ceed ; so that repeated plouglilngs 
are not so beneficial in reallv loosenina: the soil as in extending 
the surface, and by division and comminution of the masses 
giving access to the sun, air, and rain. Such, then, is the theory 
of fallows, but in practice it Is often found that the necessity of 
fallows proceeds more from the foulness of the land than from its 
positive barrenness. Then, as the objects of fallowing — wliether 
to restore fertility or to kill weeds — are both enhanced by 
carlv ploughing, it is hoped the absurdity of postponing that 
operation till the spring will soon be exploded. The common 
practice now in Bucks is to plough the fallows three times, sel- 
dom harrowing them, and now and then running the grubber 
across. Farmers contend, and v/ith good reason, that if tlie land 
is made fine, a dash of rain causes it to run together and excludes 
the air, whereas if left moderately rough the rain passes between 
the clods, and the atmosphere still finds admittance to the soil. 
Provided the couch can be effectually eradicated by these means, 
and in dry seasons it certainly is destroyed, Mr. Priest's severe 
remarks are not altogether merited; for as his Norfolk gravels, 
and indeed the light chalks of this county, require the drought 
to be kept out, on stiff clays the freer the access of the sun's rays 
