304 
Farming of Buckinghamshire. 
farms, where stalled cattle were consuming large quantities of 
oil-cake, this expensively-made manure was thrown into loose 
heaps, and the rich liquid escaped into the next ditch. However, 
the drainage of a steading is sometimes used in partially irrigating 
a grass-field, or is more frequently collected in a tank or bog-hole. 
It is pumped up from thence, and applied to the meadows from a 
cart, and is found most efficacious in the months of April and 
May. An enterprising lady, who is a considerable landed pro- 
prietor in the vicinity of Aylesbury, tried the effects of charcoal 
on the sewage manure of that town. Tanks fdled with that 
deodorizer were built, but either the best of the manure escaped 
through the charcoal or the scheme was not properly supported, 
for the tanks are now removed, and the filth of the town once 
more poisons the atmosphere and blackens the little stream into 
which it flows. Aylesbury being built on a hill is particularly 
well situated for applying its drainage in irrigation. 
Chalk is the only mineral manure extensively used in Bucks. 
On the Chilterns it is generally within an easy distance of the 
surface. It is most commonly applied to the land from pits or 
wells sunk in the fields. These pits are about 20 feet deep, and 
the chalk is drawn up in baskets by a wheel. From 90 to 120 
loads, of IG bushels each, is the usual dressing. Tlie cost is now 
5rf. per load, digging, drawing, and harrowing out ; 3*. per 100 
loads, spreading ; and 4.9. per 100 loads, levelling in the pits. 
The effect of this chalking will last well 50 years. Take the 
following for example : in a crop of winter oats at Ilambledon 
last harvest a marked difference was observed ; and, on threshing, 
one portion of the field produced a quarter per acre more than 
the other, and the difference was wholly caused by the most pro- 
ductive portion having been chalked 39 years ago. Such lasting 
and satisfactory results are most encouraging, but the great ex- 
pense of this outlay could not be expected from an occupier 
without lease or tenant-right. Perhaps it is due to the absence 
of this security that so little chalking is done. In the localities 
where chalk is carted from adjacent pits, or fetched from a dis- 
tance, a smaller dressing is considered sufficient, and probably a 
milder dose might be as well on the land above mentioned ; but, 
where shafts have to be sunk and the chalk harrowed, a small 
coat is in proportion more expensive than a larger one. Lime is 
not much sought after for manure : it certainly does not possess 
the mechanical powers of a heavy dressing of chalk, by which 
land is more easily ploughed with two horses than it was pre- 
viously by three ; but where soils are deficient in calcareous 
matter, and chalk is distant, lime, from its lightness and powerful 
effects, is the best manure that can be used. Some lime 
applied to a field of undrained clay-land was reported to have 
