Farming of Oxfordshire. 
245 
and, after packing it over (under cover) till tlie straw is sufll- 
cicntlj decomposed, mix it with ashes and drill it for turnips. 
Wiiere many pigeons, or much poultry is kept, tlieir dung is 
carefully collected, and is either mixed with other manure or 
witli ashes, and used for the turnip crop. 
There are many farms in so high a state of cultivation 
that artificial manures are not needed. By keeping a large 
quantity of sheep, and feeding them on cake or corn, and con- 
suming green and root crops on the ground, th^ corn is stimu- 
lated to such a degree that in wet seasons it is sure to lodge. 
Artificial dressings, unless a more severe rotation of crops be 
pursued, will only augment the evil. 
Ashes, though mostly employed in conjunction with other 
manures, are also separately employed as a dressing to the land. 
Wood ashes are sought after and sown on clover, sainfoin, and 
lucerne : these ashes are plentiful in the Chiltern district, and 
command Qid. per bushel. Coal ashes vary in price from 6s. to 
125. per waggon load. In almost all towns night soil is mixed 
with coal ashes, and retailed out by the collectors to the farmers 
in the surrounding localities at the rate of 6f/. and Id. per 
bushel. 
Lime is used on ground recently broken up and on peaty soils, 
and also on the light red lands ; but it is principally applied as 
a dressing to cure the " club root," and " fingers and toes " in 
turnips. Some land requires 10 quarters of lime every eight or 
twelve years before roots can be grown with any certainty. Not 
only do turnips suffer, but the club root even attacks mustard 
and rape. Lime, when delivered 4 or 5 miles, costs 45. 3fZ. to 
45. 6'/. per quarter. As soon as it is "slaked, while yet hot it is 
applied to the land : a man follows the plough sowing the lime 
from a seed-cot at the bottom of the furrow, which is covered 
over by the next turn of the plough to the depth of 3 or 4 inches. 
If applied in this manner it is a certain cure for this troublesome 
disease, and has been never /mown to fail. Stone lime is much 
more powerful than that made from chalk. If chalk lime is 
used the dressing must be repeated every four, or at the utmost 
every eight years. Almost all the stonebrash will burn into 
lime, but most of it has too much sand in its composition to 
make first-rate lime. Lime is sometimes mixed witli road- 
scrapings, couch, or mud, and so applied to the land. 
The ploughs mostly used on the clialk hills are the old Wilt- 
shire, with rampant beam resting on standards : these ploughs 
are liked for this uneven ground, as they are steady and light of 
draught. Having two wheels to the standard they are not adapted 
for working horses in line ; but that is of no consequence, for 
though the hills are generally ploughed with three horses they 
