CARDIGANSHIRE. 



451 



'#tn- of wheat, barley, peas, black oats, and potatoes. Tur- 

 , also are cultivated to some extent, and rich fields 

 s "" ""Y""*' O f clover and natural grass are occasionally to be 

 ecen. But the mode of farming is, on the whole, 

 injudicious and slovenly ; and, consequently, the pro- 

 duce is in very few cases so abundant as might be 

 expected from the goodness of the climate, and the 

 quality of the ground. It is a singular fact, that 

 there is a good deal of land on the sea coast from 

 whieh crops of barley have been annually taken for 

 at least sixty years past, without any diminution ei- 

 ther in the quantity or quality of the produce. The 

 manure employed is sea-weed ; and the grain is ac- 

 counted so excellent, that it is sent to the adjacent 

 counties for seed-corn. The farmers all keep cows 

 for the purpose of breeding ; and also of making but- 

 ter and skimmed milk cheese, the former of which 

 is chiefly for exportation, and the latter solely for 

 home consumption. The black cattle are of the 

 Pembrokeshire breed : they work, travel, and fatten 

 well ; and used to be favourites of the English dro- 

 vers, who bought them readily, and at good prices. 

 There are not many sheep in this district. These 

 are kept by the few who sow turnips. Their num- 

 ber is diminishing, because a spirit for inclosing pre- 

 vails, and they are reckoned enemies to the growth 

 of young hedges. This is surely unwise, as the sail 

 is so well adapted to them, and as the evil which 

 they occasion might be easily prevented. 



The upper district, comprehending chiefly the 

 northern and eastern parts of the county, is very 

 mountainous. A great proportion of it is bleak and 

 barren ; but much of this is owing to want of judicious 

 enterprize and agricultural skill, as well as to natural 

 sterility and unfavourable situation. In the vallies 

 and dips, which are narrow, and of no great extent, 

 the soil is chiefly of a stiff retentive clay ; in the de- 

 clivities it has an admixture of light loam ; and on 

 the high grounds it is uniformly thin and excessively 

 poor, yielding little except ling, heath, and moss. 

 The farmers here depend more on their stock than 

 on cultivation. They scarcely raise a sufficient quan- 

 tity of corn for their own consumption ; and pay 

 their rents principally by the profits derived from the 

 sale of cattle and horses 'bred by themselves, and of 

 aheep, which they have in pretty numerous flocks. 

 The breed of black cattle is much the same with 

 that of Pembrokeshire and Caermarthenshire. They 

 are small, but well made and hardy, and answer 

 much better for the butcher than the dairy. For- 

 merly all England to the south of the Trent was 

 supplied with black cattle from this quarter; and it 

 is still looked to by dealers and drovers as a kind of 

 mirsrry for these animals. The native unmixed breed 

 of sheep are very small, long legged^ narrow on the 

 chine, of various colours, some with horns, and many 

 without them. There are also a good many pigs 

 reared. These, indtcd, always form a part of the 

 farmer's stock, though they are not found to be a 

 very profitable concern. In the south east of this 

 division there are some pieces of ground inclosed, 

 and well cultivated ; and there is a larger portion of 

 good pasture and meadow here than is generally to 

 be found in the neighbourhood. The kinds of grain 

 produced in the upper district are the same as those 



produced in the lower, with the addition of rye, C*rdij. 

 which is raised here in considerable quantities The ' 

 waste lands in Cardiganshire are very extensive. Iu- ""V 

 eluding those tracts which are but partially cultiva- 

 ted, they may be estimated as amounting to nearly 

 the half of the county. A large proportion of them, 

 however, if not fit for the plough, might be planted . 



with great advantage. Indeed, improvements of this 

 kind have been already set on foot, and are advancing 

 with a rapid progress. The climate is mild and tem- 

 perate, varying a little according to the elevation of 

 the ground, the distance from the sea, and the state 

 of cultivation ; not so cold as in the midland coun- 

 ties, nor so humid as in the western coasts of Eng- 

 land ; and, upon the whole, favourable both to health 

 and husbandry. Cardiganshire used to be considered 

 as so barren and unproductive, that it was proverbially 

 called by the people of the neighbouring countries, 

 the Devil's Grandmother's Jointure. But it is gra- 

 dually falsifying that reproachful appellation; and 

 though it can never, perhaps, vie in fertility with re- 

 gions that have been more favoured by nature, it 

 promises soon to hold a respectable place among those 

 districts which are distinguished by agricultural im- 

 provements. The principal ground of hope rests in 

 the institution of an Agricultural Society, consisting 

 of the most intelligent gentlemen and farmers in that 

 quarter, which has already done a great deal of good, 

 and from which a great deal more is to be expected ; 

 because, according to Mr Malkin, it is formed '* on a 

 better plan, and founded on more rational principles 

 than that of any county in South Wales." 



The principal rivers in this county are the Tivy, 

 the Rydol, and the Ystwith. The Tivy, which 

 forms the greatest part of its southern limit, rises out 

 of one of the many small lakes which are collected in 

 the hollows on the eastern side. It runs over a very 

 rocky and irregular channel till it reaches YstradFlwr, 

 when it assumes a more settled course, and, pass- 

 ing by Landbeder, at the border of Caermarthenshire, 

 becomes from thence the boundary between the t\vo 

 counties, till it falls into the Irish sea, about two 

 miles below Cardigan. The Rydol rises on the 

 south-west side of Plynlimmon, and, after running 

 south and south-west, discharges itself into the Irish 

 sea near Aberystwith. The Ystwith has its mouth, 

 as the name of the town denotes, at the same place 

 with the Rydol, though it takes its rise from among 

 the hills in the eastern district. Beside these, there 

 are some streams of smaller consequence ; and, as 

 might be expected from the nature of the country, a 

 vast number of rivulets. Indeed, the authors of the 

 Agricultural Survey tell us, that, " exclusive of 

 springs upon the hills, there is no valley without a 

 river or a brook ; and scarcely a glen, or what we 

 call a dingle, without a stream sufficient to turn a 

 mill." These must be considered as great advanta- 

 ges, both for watering the soil, where irrigation may 

 be useful, and for driving corn mills and other kindt 

 of machinery. At the same time, they are frequent- 

 ly productive of much injury. Though, in dry wea- 

 ther, these rivulets are very inconsiderable, yet, after 

 storms, or continued rains, they become formidable 

 torrents, rush with terrible impetuosity through 

 the deep narrow chasms that are formed by the I. 



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