With regard to horses the Shire Bred predominates in the county, and some admirable specimens of the breed are kept in Mr. Hudson's stables at Danesfield. There is always a ready market at a remunerative price for a good shire horse. Mr. Hudson sends out some excellent horses to travel the country in the spring which are thoroughly appre- ciated over a very wide area. A good many farmers, however, take advantage of the ready access to London to get down very useful horses which can no longer stand the wear and tear of the streets, but are capable of doing good work on the farms. For ploughing on the tenderer lands and for the mowing and reaping machines they are extremely useful.
Poultry hardly receives the attention it deserves, but there is a growing tendency to devote more trouble to it, and to keep a better class on many farms. The county is, however, a long way behind Surrey and Sussex with regard to this branch of farming. Turkeys are kept in fair quantities in many parts of the county, and in a good beech-mast season thrive well among the trees. Geese are not very generally kept, in spite of the small expense involved in rearing them. Ducks are the great speciality of the county, for it possesses in the Aylesbury duck a breed of its own everywhere highly esteemed. A great many very fine birds are kept in the Vale of Aylesbury and in most parts of the county. Great trouble is taken with them, and the aim is to get them hatched as early in January as possible in order to have them ready by the end of March and in April. If brought to the markets in good condition they will then readily make from i 2s. to 1 5*. a couple.
Rabbits on many farms make a useful addition to the returns from the smaller items, but they are not kept in any large quantities. The land does not so readily lend itself to warrens as the large sandy heaths of the Eastern Counties. In some seasons, when the beech- mast is plentiful, the wood pigeon also is laid under profitable con- tributions. These birds do not, however, now come in such huge flocks as they used to do formerly.
Pheasant rearing, on the other hand, has become a considerable industry and now represents a good deal of invested capital. Starting at Missenden, it has spread along the Chiltern Hills and has enabled a good deal of very poor land to be profitably occupied. Both the ring-necked and other varieties are kept, and there seems little to choose between them. Wild ducks are also in many places reared in large numbers alongside the pheasants.
A great feature of the county is the large extent of its commons and heaths, covering many thousands of acres. The grazing rights on these are a very fruitful source of discord, and it may well be doubted if they are in reality very much assistance to farmers. In many cases sheep are sent on to the commons to graze when they would have done far more good if kept on the land at home to enrich it for the next crop.
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