Grass Lands. 
293 
is getting' from bad to worse every year ; in some places the bed 
of the river is entirely silted up, and, in addition to the other 
evils, tliat new pest of our rivers, the Anacharis alsinastrum, has 
found its way into all the branches and dykes of the Thame. In 
the summer of 1853, large quantities of hay, so valuable in this 
district, were spoiled, flooded, or washed clean away. There 
appears to be no system whatever of keeping up the banks, 
clearing the stream of obstructions, and cutting the weeds. If 
all this was properly attended to, the millers would have a more 
regular supply of water, and summer floods would cease. As it 
is, the least excess of rain in a wet summer season sends the 
water from the narrow, irregular, and partially blocked-up chan- 
nel, over the adjoining meadows, to the serious injury or total 
destruction of the grass-crop. The same remarks apply, in a less 
degree, to the Ouse. No care is taken to confine the water 
within the river-banks, or to free the land rapidly from floods. 
The dykes are seldom properly trimmed or scoured, and in the 
neighbourhood of Olney are so grown up that cattle can easily 
ford them, and pass from one meadow to another. The little 
river Kay, which derives its supply of water mainly from land- 
springs or surface-water, in the winter of 1853 flooded the 
neighbouring Otmoor country for nearly six months. During 
the last summer it was, in parts, perfectly dry, and cattle which 
pastured on its banks had to be watered at a very considerable 
distance. 
Graziiifj. — The cattle that are grazed in the Vale of Aylesbury 
are mostly Herefords. There are several very fine Devons, and 
likewise some good shorthorns. There may be other grass-lands 
which may fatten faster than the best pastures of the Vale, but there 
are no meadows in the kingdom which can so perfectly develop and 
mature a large ox. It is common for the grazier to purchase his 
stock in the spring, and to dispose of them from July to October, 
while a few are stalled for six or eight weeks before Christmas. 
Some cattle are bought in the autumn or winter to feed off the 
rough grass from tlie pastures, but, as few of the best grass-lands 
will bear treading, they are kept clear of heavy stock from Novem- 
ber to May ; and, if store-cattle are then in hand, they are fed in 
yards witli a varying allowance of hay. The number of graziers 
in Bucks seems to be constantly changing. One man may be 
tired of feeding, and resolves to try dairying : while his neigh- 
Ijour, being less pleased with the manufacture of butter, deter- 
mines to embark in grazing. There are other farmers who have 
a herd of milch cows and of grazing cattle, and they regulate the 
proportion of these stock according to the price of beef and 
butter. Of course, there is no great extent of such land where a 
farmer can graze or dairy as he thinks best ; the far larger extent 
