316 
Farming of Bucking hamsJiire. 
cattle together and breaking; down fences, heavy losses are some- 
times sustained from this cause among the ewes. 
From what has been said it will appear that some vast im- 
provements are still required in Buckinghamshire. Security of 
tenure, proper farm-buildings for the shelter of stock and manu- 
facture of manure, draining, field-roads, and better management 
of clay soils, may be considered among the most prominent. 
With regard to breaking up grass-land, a notion prevails that 
great improvements would be effected by this. Certainly land 
which, when ploughed, would carry stock and grow roots, ancf 
which cannot now produce a tern of hay per acre, is best ploughed 
up from grass. The improvement effected by the conversion of 
sudi pastures into arable land is very great. Let any one, who 
knew the Snelson farm, in Lavendon parish, in its original state, 
compare it with its present condition. Before the enterprising 
tenant occupied it (by-the-bye, he has a 21 years' lease), the farm 
was chiefly in pasture, some of which produced little grass and 
was covered with ant-hills. A lot of useless wood land Avas 
grubbed, at the rate of 8/. per aci-e, and above 100 acres of the 
worst grass was banked over and then dug up, at the cost of 3ff. 
per pole. Beans Avere dibbled on the flag, the rows having been 
previously marked out, and that ciop followed by wheat; then 
beans and wheat again. The land is now brought into a regular 
rotation ; and last year the average produce of the farm was 6 
quarters of wheat, 10 of oats, and 5 of beans. In addition to all 
this increase of corn, as much stock is kept on the farm as formerly ; 
so there is the gain to the tenant of the corn, less the cost of pro- 
ducing it. Some farmers, in speaking of such land in 1809, were 
of opinion that 3-4ths might be ploughed and yet the same 
stock kept as if none were ploughed. On which Mr. Priest re- 
marks, " It would require so much supposition to make this clear 
on paper, that few would believe it ; let some spirited farmer 
show it by practice, and the point is carried." This has been 
done over and over again since then, but in no instance more 
satisfactorily than in the one just quoted. 
But the case of this farm is not a general one. In the county, 
the greater portion of the inferior or unprofitable grass-land rests 
on a very stiff clay — land that if ploughed would produce alter 
the first few years but little corn without a great expenditure. 
The farm above noticed is situated on the cornbrash, or forest 
marble of the north, Avhich is more easily cultivated than the 
Oxford clay ; but, as a general rule, the agriculture of Bucks 
would not be permanently improved by the cultivation of the 
cold pastures. Nay, on the contrary, there is much clay land 
now ploughed that would be better in grass. The readiness with 
which such lands become useful pasture, is well known; and clay 
