In the agricultural operations of Buckinghamshire the labour of norscs is prelerred to that of oxen. The heavy quality of some parts of the soil, and the flintiness of other parts, have induced the farmer to decide in favour of the former. The swing and high wheel ploughs, drawn by four horses, two abreast, are princi pally in use in the southern parts of the county ; while the loose-handle swing, and low wheel ploughs, wrought by five or six horses in a line, are generally employed in the northern division. The nature of the leases in Buckinghamshire is a very considerable obstruction to agricultural improvement. The tenants are confined to two or three crops and a fallow, and they are prohibited to grow clover and green food.
The manures chiefly employed in this county arc, marl, peat-ash, yard and rabbit clung. Hair and hoofs are strewn with great advantage on the strong and cold soils ; and the wheat and young clover are greatly invigorated by the application of soot and ashes.
The rents of farms vary, in general, from 601. to 2501. a-year ; a few rents are as high as 5001, and two or three rent at 10001. The commons were estimated at 91,900 acres, but a very considerable proportion of these are now inclosed. The heaths of Iver, Fulmer, Stoke, and Wycombe, along with the other waste lands, do not exceed 600 acres. Great quantities of fine beech trees are produced in the southern part of the county ; and nearly the sixth part of the ground between the Thames and the road to Oxford is covered with that wood. Numerous plantations of Scotch firs are thriving on Wavendon heath, which is now the property of the Duke of Bedford, and which was inclosed in 1778. In the coppices of Whaddon-chase there are many fine oak and ash trees.
The principal manufactures of Buckinghamshire are lace and paper. Almost all the lower classes of females in the county are employed in lace-making ; and there is scarcely a house in which there is not a lace-pillow, parchments, bobbins, gimps, pins, thread, and other requisites for that manufacture. It is said, that more lace is manufactured in the town and neighbourhood of Newport Pagnell than in all the rest of England. A market is held every Wednesday for the purpose of selling this article ; and great quantities of it are dis posed of at the fairs, of which no fewer than six are held annually. The manufacture of paper is carried on to as great an extent in the neighbourhood of Wycombe, as in any other part of England. There are no fewer than fifteen corn and paper mills on the part of the small river Wycombe which passes through the parish.
At Amersham there is a cotton manufactory. established about twenty-two years ago, which employs above 100 persons, though a considerable part of the business is performed by machinery. Wooden articles, in the respective branches of round, hollow, and Tunbridge ware, are manufactured at Chesham.
The antiquities of the county are not very numerous. Stony Stratford, or its immediate vicinity, has heen regarded by several antiquaries as the Lactodorum of the Itinerary : Considering that the etymology of Lac todorum, in the British language, perfectly agrees with its present English name,. Camden supposes the particular spot occupied by the Roman station to have been at this town, though Dr Stukely places it at Old Stratford, and Dr Salmon at Calverton. The ancient church of Stewluly is of Saxon workmanship, and is mentioned by Dr Stukely as the oldest and most entire he ever saw. The date of 1106 is said to have been observed on a stone by some workmen who were repairing the roof of the chancel. The cross, built upon the side of a high, steep, and chalky hill, near the hamlet of Whiteleaf, is supposed by Mr Wise to have been erected in the reign ot Edward the Elder, in commemoration of a battle fought against the Danes. It is about 100 feet high, and 50 broad, tapering to 20.
In the neighbourhood of Wycombe, in a meadow on the grounds at Loakt. s, there was found, in 1724, a tes selated pavement, about nine feet square, with the figure of a wild beast in the centre. The borders are curiously ornamented with small square stones of different colours. The coins discovered along with it were those of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. A Roman vessel was found on digging in the High Street of Wycombe ; and several Roman coins have been found in the neigh bourhood.
The chief rivers of Buckinghamshire are the Thames and the Ouse. The Thames rises in the county ot Hert ford, near the borders of Buckinghamshire ; and after flowing, from east to west, through the vale of Ayles bury, it is enlarged by the waters of several tributary streams, and enters the county of Oxford near the town of Thame. The Ouse enters Buckinghamshire on the western side, and, after passing Water Stratford, and Buckingham, it winds to the north through a rich tract of meadow land, and pursues its course to Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell, and After turn ing suddenly to the east, it leave3 the county near Bray field.