The Express.
London, England, 1850-10-29 00:00:00

TO Tin ZDVTOI 01 TIT =PM&

BUCHINGHA V.
Leaving the line of the North Western Railway at
Bletchley, by the branch line to Banbury, you pats
over a tract of heavy land, chief in grass, lying on
the Oxford clay to Buckingham, which is on the great
polite formation. Here the sod is very various, in
some ',hoes shallow and immediately incumbent en a
shaft ry stone, and at others having a deep s'aple of
fine loam : from a light soil you often go at once tot'
stiffish clay, with occasional beds of blue lies, which
are usually infertile. But the general character of
the land around Buckingham is one of considerable
(refill'. Like most of the soils on this formation the
Lm-

id ii m.inaged on a mixed system of arable and
grass, the latter, however, being greatly preponde-
rant. A considerable part of this land requires to be
drained, and if properly drained much of it might be
profitably broken up. In its present state it is
strictly dairy lend, and to that purpose it is for the
most part applied. Butter is the sole object to
which the milk is applied, and the produce is
weekly sent, in a fresh state, to the London
market. The ekim milk not required for rear-
ing calves—and in a general way only so many
are reared as will keep up the stock of cows—as well
as the butter milk, is used for feeding he gs, and a
great many are fattened to a large size on milk alone.
Some farmers give a few peas or oats to their feeding
hogs as well as milk, but I saw several lots in the
best possible condition which had never received any-
thing besides milk. One of my objects in coming to
this place was to lock at Stowe Park. and the herd of
old-fuhioned long-horn cattle still kept there ; and
as I found some good dairy farms were to be seen
in that direction, I started from Buckingham through
the Stowe domain. Close to the north side of the
town, on rising ground, is an archway und-r w•hirh
you pass into the ducal estate. For some distance
the road lies between rows of trees of about twenty-
five or thirty jeans' growth, and on either side is n
broad strip of gre-e, perhaps a hundred yards in
width, which is depastured by sheep only as part of
the adjoining farms. About half a mile from this
arch is the entrants to the park itself through another
grand archway. This entrance is kept locked, the
public road going round and not through the
park. The house studs on the right Land as
you enter the park from Buckingham ; and is
an edifice of most imposing appearance; and
the park, consisting of fine undulating land,
forms as magnificent a prospect as can well be
imagined. This park consists of 700 acres, end the
whole of it since the Duke of Buckingham's
insolvency has been lot out in different portions to the
neighbouring farmers. There are three farmers who

rent 100 acres each, the other four bundr.d acres
being rented by a fourth tenant farmer. The par-
dons of the park held by each are divided by strung
flier hurdles, which in no respect impair the beauty
and park-like appearanceof the scene, while the herds
of cattle and Hooks of sheep which occupy tha place
of deer and genie tmally found in such parks—and
which were formerly mast abundant here—give an
air of quiet utility, instead of the ordinary wild and
*esti:tut aspect of a deer park. The herd of deer

which was 'formerly kept in this park, at an iromenss
expense, were sold for 1,0001., to be cleared off in
three years; and they have only been finally got
rid of last year, to the great relief of ell parties now
conc.vned in the management of the property.
game, too, which formerly devoured a verythinfr, has
been deatro)ed, and the absolu'e right to the came
let to the tenantry of each farm at a shilling
per acre. There is now no game.-keeper on the
estate, and the comfort and pecuniary benefits the
etnan's have derived from thie to them happy,
change were everywhere spoken Of as immerse. One
farmer told me that everything he attempted to grow
on his ploughed land used formerly to be so nearly
devoured by the guma as to leave bum very little to-
wards the t xpeme a of ploughing and sewing, and
nothing whatever for rent or profit. Yet this man
paid a full rent for all his land, and all the other te-
nants have eqiial,e pr fired by the destruction of the
game. In the Dike's time the hares abounded to such

a degree that dozens of th, in might often be seen
feeding together in a field e f ten acres ; and the
pheasants would scarcely move out of the way of tho
passer-by. As an instance of the enormous head of
game kept, I was Old that as many as 700 pheasants
were killed in a morning in a woad of nn great extent
adjoireog the park. The large gardens and extensive
hot-heuies end conservatories have been let to the
tale chief gardener who cultivates them as a matter of
business.
I was rather curious to learn whether all that rein
and desolation which some persons hive supp teed
must tall on a district when the establishment of a
great lat,d-owner is broken up, had occaried from the
totel destruction of the Stowe establishment; and
though I heard sundry semi-sentimental regrets that
the Duke should have fallen so utterly, I could not
learn that anything hint substantial benefits to the te-
nantry had reealteil. One practical evil mentirned
by a termer was that many .4 young chaps,"
who had been employed about the stables and
establishment, and whom my informant described
as a lot of vagabonds," were han. ing about
the villages, too lazy to work, and good for no-
thing. Doubtless, there are some twat traders
' who miss the profit of supplyirg Stowe with
their commodities, but to the labouring classes the
employment afforded by these great establishments
is at best a very questionable benefit. To the far-
mer. where their landlord preserves game, his resi-
dence is an unmixed evil. This property is now
substantially in the hands of creditor., tor whom the
Marquis of Chandos acts as receiver and manager,
and those who have had transactions with him speak
highly of his tact, temper, and bueinees habits. The
incumbrances on the osta'es originally amounted to
1,400,0001., and property bee been sold to the extent
ot 900,0001. The grove rental of the Duke of Buck-
William's estate., when he succeeded to them, was
upwards of 60,0001., and not a doubt is entertained,
that with anything like reasonable prudence, he
might then have retrieved his affairs. A good deal
of the Chandos property has been disposed of, and the
produce invested to the Stowe estate, so that, it is
said, this fine domain will eventually be saved to
Lord Chandos. I was glad to hear from persons
likely to be correctly informed, that his lordship will
in the end have an income of 18,0001. or 18,0001. per
annum clear, and this sentiment is universal in this
neighbourhood, where nobody doubts or hesitates to
say that he was grossly imposed upon, when led into
the arrangement by which he made his own interest
in the property liable for his father's debts. Under
the duke's management, no money could be spared
for repairs, to say nothing of permanent improve-
ments, but now wider the management of creditors,
some considerable, but not sufficient oielays ot that
sort are being made. The conclusion I draw front
all my inquiries and observations is, that economically
the locality has gained, not lost, by the breaking up
of the Stowe establishment, and that the farmers in
particular have been greatly benefited.
For seventy years the breed of long horns has been
preserved at Stowe; that is, from the period when
they formed the improved and fashionable stock of
the day ; and it was with something of an antiqua-
rian sentiment I went to see them. Mr. Thomas
Beards, the intelligent manager of the estates, now
rents 100 acres of the park and abed 70 besides,
which formerly constituted the home farm ; he has
also become the purchaser of the herd of long horned
cattle. The herd is not numerous., being, I thick,
about 35 of all ages, and many of them, as feeding
beasts, are very first-rate animals. At the shows of
the Royal Agricultural Society there are prizes for
shorthorns, Herefords, and Dawns, and also for cattle
of any breed not qualified to compete in any of the
three former classes. Now the prizes in this feurth
class have been usually, if not Invariably taken
by the long horns, and of such prizes the Stowe
herd have taken no small share. At the
shows held at Southampton, Derby, York, Ncr-
wish, and Exeter, Mr. Beards' long horns
were successful competitors ' -
which took the prise at Ec
a very first-rate beast.
short-horns, neither
vegaur ab iut them,
finds his cattle fatten
shorthorns he has pit
Toey are not genera
milk is ric.her than the
horned cows; still I.
dairy, and his quantity
if any less than that m
short-horn cows. His
pant old at priors -

* ,+`

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Lpetitors for prize!; and the heifer
eat Exeter in the present year is J .
.st. They do not reach the size of '0 1
• is there the same appearance of
, bat Mr. Beards says that he
nt more readily and rapidly then
purchased from well-bred herds.
il
•ally good milkers, though their
that of the ••+ 4: ;., ~..
..
1 Mr. Beards , - !r",i) '
rt
_AL.....1+,12,,47, Ne.
tity of butter
it made from the '''... T. - . • .
His steers go off • • :it.ben 7.• .4'l
s 'varying from r • ' Of:. . .. 00
X,,./ 77
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