1839-1845-] 
MARSH GIBBON 
*59 
drive his younger children over with him in a capacious 
yellow carriage, drawn by a tall, gaunt, gentle horse, called 
“ Old Owen,” two or three times a week, in order to 
superintend the work himself, for it was one of his favourite 
sayings, “ If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” 
In these early days of drainage and of sanitary building, 
it was very necessary that the workmen should be in¬ 
structed at every step. The farmhouse had the foundations 
of the walls laid in brick, with large slates laid on the top 
crosswise, as a damp-proof course. Perforated air bricks, 
made under his direction at the adjacent brickyard, were 
inserted in the walls, as well as chimney ventilators ; even 
the stables and cowsheds were also ventilated, though this 
was considered at the time a very unnecessary waste of 
money. 
In proof of the success resulting from scientific draining 
and cultivation Dr. Buckland exhibited at the Ashmolean 
in 1844 an enormous turnip, measuring a yard in circum¬ 
ference, which had been grown on land that before had 
lain waste. 
Marsh Gibbon has retained its fascination for scientific 
experiment, and has been made by the Ewelme trustees 
into a model sanitary village, with excellent labourers' 
cottages let at very reasonable rents. Buckland’s work 
there and his personality are still remembered in the parish, 
and the Rector, the Rev. Edward Holmes, thus writes to 
the biographer :— 
“As regards the farm which Dr. Buckland sold in 1845, 
the present owner, Mr. David Jones, says that the drainage 
pipes were made in two pieces, upper and lower, for main 
