Farming of Oxfordshire. 
255 
they are all so old, and so far gone in decay, as not to be worth 
•repair; and conflagrations, though too frequent, do not often 
occur. But, unless something of this kind happen, the farm- 
stead is patched up, and the great evil of bad arrangement is 
only alleviated and not properly remedied. There is generally 
plenty of barns, in some cases more than is needed : more 
shedding and less barn-room would be an improvement. In the 
south of the county, Avliere wood is plentiful and stone scarce, 
farms arc generally built of quartering and weather boarding. 
The quarters which form the frame-work of the sides and ends 
are cased with thin elm or beech boards. 
Though most parts of the county are well off for building ma- 
terials, and some good farm-buildings are to be found in various 
.parts of the county, these are more frequently in the occupation of 
the landlord than enjoyed by the tenant. However, on the Sarsden 
estate, in addition to the well arranged steading in the occupa- 
tion of the liberal proprietor, all the farms are well supplied 
with suitiible and substantial farm-buildings, and six of them 
have stationary steam-engines. These engines, with the 
requisite machinery, are mostly supplied and erected by the 
landlord, who only chai'ges the very moderate interest of four 
per cent, on the outlay. The home farm at Blenheim is justly 
noted for its excellent buildings, and there are some very good 
ones recently erected at Bladon, which is also farmed by the 
noble owner. On these farms are two fixed steam-threshing 
machines, very cheaply and efficiently constructed by Riddle 
and Son of Tweedmouth. At Brize Norton is some wide and 
newTy-built shedding 400 feet .long. These sheds open into 
small yards, and make very comfortable lodging for cattle. In 
some other parts of the north of the county are neat and sub- 
stantial farm-buildings. Among them are those at Eynsham, 
which, in addition to their convenience, are supplied with all 
the machinery for profitably carrying on a large and well-regu- 
lated occupation. South of Oxford may be seen a noble range 
of barns at Fivefield, all under one roof, and forming two sides 
of a large yard. This extensive building is 140 yards long, 
and is furnished with six threshing floors. There are some 
good buildings and nice machinery at Swyncombe. At Shir- 
burn Castle one of Clayton and Shuttleworth's portable engines 
drives a corn, malt, and beanmill, chaff-cutter, circular saws, 
and threshing-machine. Tiie saws go well, and are of great 
importance on an estate where so much of the farm-buildings is 
cased with weather-boarding. At Lobb farm there is a recently 
erected covered homestead 100 feet long, 75 feet wide, and the 
walls 12 feet high. Tiie barns occupy nearly the whole of the 
north side, the stable is towards the west, while the root-house, 
s 2 
