Farm Buildinrjs. 
309 
tliatcheil. In these defects the county of Bucks is not peculiar, 
and a more pleasing task will be to mention a few of the im- 
proved farm-buildings which have lately sprung up in various 
parts of the county. 
Close by i^ton, at Riding Court, a very complete steading has 
recently been erected in a substantial and efHcient manner. It 
has a fixed steamer for threshing, cutting chaff, &c., a range of 
barns towards the north, convenient yards, and cattle stalls — in 
fact all the conveniences of a complete homestead. At Wood- 
lands, a little south of Beaconsfield, an excellent set of farm- 
buildings is now being reared for the new tenant ; and at Latimer, 
Shardeloes, Claydon, and other gentlemen's seats there are very 
good buildings, but these are in the occixpation of the pro- 
prietors. At Fawley Court, the feeding-house which has been 
already spoken of, as well as the sheep-shed, engine-house, and 
other premises, has been erected by the enterprising and wealthy 
gentleman who now holds the lease. It would have been better 
(and money seemed no object) had all the old buildings been 
removed, for, as it is, the clever machinery is huddled together 
in the original barn in such a manner that, when all is going, the 
place seems alive, and yet no more result is obtained than is 
commonly produced by more sober and less complicated per- 
formances. For instance, the turnips are deposited under a 
little open shed, and a boy j)laces them one by one in an elevator 
which carries them over the threshing-machine to the highest 
point of the barn roof. From thence they descend, pass through 
the washer, are first sliced, tlien ground, and afterwards by 
another elevator taken up and emptied into a hopper. They are 
discharged at intervals from tliis, mixed with cake and chaff, 
let down into a bin below, and shovelled into trucks, which are 
pushed on a tramway into the feeding-house, and served to the 
cattle. Now all this is admirably done, but the space these turnips 
travel is really wonderful, and with the old buildings it was not 
possible to arrange it better. It is very pleasing to notice the 
improvements which have been recently made in the manage- 
ment of the stock on this farm. Two or three years ago, a lot of 
inferior steers, some of them clipped, were standing with out- 
spread hoofs on slippery splined boards, and pigs had to go up 
stairs to a similar bed, none the more fragrant or healthy for 
being situated directly over the manure pits. Now, beautiful 
Hereford oxen repose in comfort in well littered stalls, and sleek- 
looking pigs seem to enjoy the luxury and warmth of a bed of 
clean straw. The greatest improvement in farm-buildings in the 
county is to be seen on the Wing and Aston Abbotts estate, 
where not one steading but several have been lately entirely built 
by the noble proprietor. Most of the farmhouses, as w ell as the 
