Dairy Farms — Sheep Pastures. 
299'' 
cal way, it has nothing in it that requires a lengthened notice. 
The larger dairies are generally more profitable, and produce 
more butter per cow than the smaller ones. The dairies of 
Littlecote, Nalduck, Cublington, Barston, and Little Horwood, 
are extensive and excellently managed ; the last, which supplies 
butter to Royalty, is quite above commendation. The cows are 
milked by men, and the dairies mostly face the north, and are 
protected at the sides from the effects of the morning and evening 
sun by trees or shrubs. Thatch is considered the best covering 
for a dairy, as it is cool in summer and warm in winter. Some 
dairies are supplied with flues for raising the temperature in 
frosty weather, while the floors of some are sunk, with the idea 
of making them cooler in summer. It is common to churn twice 
a week, and all large dairies have a horse-churn, which holds 
100 lbs. of butter and upwards. The butter is taken from the 
farmer's house by carriers, who convey it by rail to town. The 
carrier finds hampers and cloths, and the cost of carrying and 
selling is 11c/. per dozen pounds. The butter is highly prized 
in London, and, from its good make and excellent flavour, it well 
merits the favour it enjoys. The average amount of butter which 
a cow produces is 5 lbs. a week, for nine months in the year. The 
calves are mostly sold when a few days old : the prices vary 
from 15s., for ordinary bull-calves, to 405., which is readily paid 
for the best heifers. No cheese is made, and comparatively few 
calves are fatted for veal. An intelligent correspondent, whose 
extensive business and practical knowledge Avould render him a 
good judge of the subject, considers there are 120,000 acres in 
Bucks devoted to dairying. With the assistance of the arable 
land, and independently of the sheep kept on such grass grounds, 
30,000 cows are dairied ; and supposing each cow to produce 
200 lbs. of butter in 40 weeks, the annual amount of butter for 
the county would be almost 2680 tons. 
Sheep. — On the pastures throughout the county it is common 
to keep some sheep. On the grazing and dairy lands tliese are 
generally ewes, with their fat lambs. The ewes are purchased 
during the autumn, being rammed early in the season. All sorts 
of ewes are to be found, from the gigantic Cotswold to the tiny 
Welsh. Perhaps there are more half-breds than anything else ; 
but also many long-wools and heavy downs. However thorough- 
bred the dam, the produce is seldom so, for while cross-breds have 
a similar ram, the Cotswold ewes are put to a down or half-bred, 
and the downs to a long-wooUed sheep. It is the principal object 
to obtain size and a readiness to fatten, with a grey downy-looking 
face. The ewes are placed at once on the pastures, and seldom 
want anything but grass, except during severe weather, when they 
are supplied with hay. They drop their lambs through January 
