Farming Customs and Covenants of England. 147 
The outgoor in many cases also claims to be allowed for the 
manure made in the yards, &c. 
This is the principal time of entry in the following : — Bed- 
ford, Berks, Essex, Herts, Hants, Middlesex, Kent, Norfolk, 
Oxford, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, and South Wales. It is also 
common in Bucks, Cornwall, Cambridge, Devon, Dorset, Dur- 
ham, Gloucestershire, Huntingdon, Leicester, Notts, Northamp- 
tozi, Somerset, Worcester, and Wilts. 
Having thus shortly treated of the periods of entry, we will 
proceed to give the customs of each county, taking them in 
alphabetical order to facilitate reference. Probably many a 
reader will interest himself in the customs of his own county, 
who would not go through a long article embodying those 
customs under the heading of " date of entry." 
The following customs have been compiled from various 
sources, but principally from information given in answer to 
direct application — we having written to upwards of 300 gentle- 
men, including land-agents, agriculturists, and auctioneers, in 
every county. We are also indebted to the ' Journals of the 
Royal Agricultural Society,' Wingrove Cooke's ' Agricultural 
Tenancies,' Dixon's ' Law of the Farm,' in addition to our own 
pei'sonal experience and observation. 
Bedfordshire. — This county had originally the Lady-day 
system of letting. Michaelmas takings are now generally 
adopted, and Lady-day entries are becoming rare. The farms 
are usually held from year to year, leases being exceptional, but 
latterly many leases have been granted. 
The outgoing tenant cultivates the fallows, carts the manure 
out, mows and stacks the hay. The valuation between the out- 
going and incoming tenants comprises the hay, straw, and root 
crop at a consuming price. Sometimes the outgoing tenant 
browses his own straw and consumes his hay on the farm, but in 
most cases it is valued to the incoming tenant, the straw at per 
acre and the hay at per ton ; also the acts of husbandry on the 
fallows, which include ploughing, scuffling, and cartage of manure, 
also the value of the clover-seed, and the cost of sowing and har- 
rowing-in of the same. The manure is left on the farm without 
payment. The outgoing tenant retains half the house and home- 
stead until the following Lady-day, for the thrashing and market- 
ing of his corn. 
We are indebted to Mr. Charles Stafford, of Bedford, for 
iniormation respecting the customs of this county, and also for 
j revising the same. It has also been revised by Mr. M. Reynolds, 
I of Old Warden. 
Berkshire. — Michaelmas day is the time of entry in this 
county ; the incoming tenant has the option of an entry at Lady- 
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