29G 
Fanning of BuchivgJuimsldre. 
Cluistmas beef. This year a stall of 40 very superior Herefords 
and shorthorns realised on an average more than 40/. per head. 
At Bronsjliton House the stock has lately been confined exclu- 
sively to Devons. This farm lies about one mile south of Ayles- 
bury, on the Tring- road ; and, as the Portland stone is clearly 
seen in the garden allotments by tlie tollgate, it must of necessity 
follow that this superior grazing land is on the gault clay. Tliis 
confirms the remark that was made in describing; the geology, 
that the fertility of the land did not depend so much on what 
clay it rested, as on the quality and depth of the top soil. There 
are two or three fields at Broughton House as good as any in the 
county ; but there are some, where the deposit of mould is not so 
deep, which are only of a second-rate description. Tiie farm 
contains about 200 acres, 56 of which are mown. There is no 
ploughed land, so the litter for the stalled cattle is purchased. 
There were last autumn 36 very fine Devons, good fleshy ani- 
znals, but not possessing the touch or fatness of those at Put- 
lowes. These cattle had each half a truss of hay and 6 linseed 
cakes in the day. 
The stock and farms of three of the most celebrated graziers 
having been described, it would be uninteresting to particularise 
more. The amount of stock kept varies with the size of the 
cattle, and more particularly with the quality of the land. The 
instances which have been produced are from the best localities. 
In a northern district, an inclosure of 54 acres had a herd of 40 
cattle ; a 16-acre field, nearer Thame, had 12 beasts and 16 
couples ; and on another good farm the summer stock was 2 
100-stone beasts and 2 couples to 3 acres. It is necessary that 
the summer grazier should have a thorough knowledge of the 
capabilities of the ground, that he should be under rather than 
over stocked, have a good judgment in buying and selling out, antl 
give constant care and attention to the comfort, health, temper, 
and progression of the stock ; these rules are not confined to 
Buckinghamshire, but are essential to all profitable grazing. On 
the second-class grazing land, not quite good enough for fattening 
oxen, a great many barren cows are fed. These cows, which are 
all shorthorns, are bought from tlie dairyman, or the strawyards 
of the arable fariners, in the spring, and sold during the summer 
and early autumn. The fat cows are generally disposed of to 
the country butchers, while the steer-beef principally goes to 
Smithficld, where, from July to Christmas, the Bucks cattle 
furnish a considerable contribution towards the required supply, 
coming in when the stall-fed cattle of the Eastern counties do 
not appear. 1 here is generally quite a clearance with the Buck- 
inghamshire summer graziers at the great Christmas market, for 
after that hardly a fat bullock is to be found in the county. 
