214 
Farming of Oxfordshire. 
loose corn. Mowing oats and barley is done at 25. 6c?. or Zs. an 
acre. 
The corn is removed from the field on waggons in the usual 
way, and placed in beautifully formed ricks. The wheat is mostly 
placed on staddles, which are conveniently arranged close to the 
barn. The rick-stands are supported by nine or more stones, 
about two feet high, square at the base, and tapering towards the 
top. On these stones are placed cappings of the same material, 
20 inches wide, and the framework of the staddle is made of 
wood. The wheat ricks are particularly worthy of admiration, 
as they are built with a regularity and neatness which cannot be 
excelled. The same degree of taste is not evinced in the con- 
struction of barley and other ricks, as they are mostly placed on 
the ground. Since the threshing of corn in the field by steam- 
power has become common, ricks are not unfrequently placed at 
a distance from the homestead, but the greater portion of the 
corn is still brought at once to the rick-yard. 
Most of the wheat is threshed by horse or steam power. Very 
little is now done by the flail. Wheat has recently yielded so 
badly to the amount of straw that threshing by hand has cost 
from 4s. to 6s. a quarter : it is certainly wonderful that farmers 
continue to give such prices, when wheat can be threshed by 
steam-power for 2s. or 2s. 6cZ. per quarter. Threshing barley is 
quite another question. Some maltsters object to machine- 
threshed corn, when they know that it has been so treated. 
There are many labourers who must be employed in winter ; and 
the straw and fodder is regularly supplied to the stock, and made 
the most of, every day. Threshing barley by flail is nearly as 
cheap as steam, as the prices given have been from Is. 6rf. to 2s. 
per quarter. Oats and beans are also threshed by hand ; the 
former at Is. and Is. 6rf., the latter, as well as pulse, at Is. 4(/. and 
Is. %d. per quarter. It is not common for these prices to include 
winnowing, as that is done by the day. There is then no danger 
of samples being spoiled by having the winnowing too hastily 
performed. 
In describing the general system of cropping, barley and oats, 
as succeeding turnips, must now be considered. The land that 
was first cleared of the root-crop receives two ploughings, while 
that which was not fed off till the spring has but one. The 
barley is sown or drilled at the rate of 2 or 3 bushels per acre, 
from the 1st of March to the last week in April. The Clievallier 
is the most extensively sown, but the Early Nottingham and 
American are also favourites. The quality of the stonebrash 
barley is only second-rate, and the yield 30 to 36 bushels per 
acre. The best samples are grown on the gravels and chalky 
land, and these may produce from 40 to 50 bushels. The 
