206 ^V AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



STONE HOUSES. IVY. VIRGINIA CREEPER. A VISIT TO A AYKLSH HORSE-FAIR. 



ENGLISH VEHICLES. AGRICULTURAL NOTES. HORSES. BREEDS OF CAT 

 TLE. HEREFORDS, WELSH, AND SMUTHY PATES. CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 



DRESS. POWIS PARK. 



Shrewsbury, June 1th. 



F HAVE been visiting a gentleman to whom I was intro- 

 L duced by Prof. Norton. His residence is on the east 

 border of Wales, amidst very beautiful scenery of round- 

 topped hills, and deep, verdant, genial dells. He has the 

 superintendence of a large number of mines of coal and metals, 

 and of several agricultural estates, the extent of which may 

 be imagined from the fact, that he is preparing to thorough- 

 drain 5000 acres next winter. He is building a tileery, and 

 will employ seven engineers, each with two foremen to oversee 

 the workmen. The cost, it is estimated, will be from $23 to 

 $25 an acre ; drains, seventeen feet apart and three feet deep. 

 The house is of stone, and is covered with ivy, which I 

 mention that I may contradict a common report that ivy 

 upon the wall of a house makes it damp. The contrary, I have 

 no doubt, is the fact. The ivy-leaves fall one over another, 

 shedding off the rain like shingles ; and it is well ascertained 

 that in a long storm the inside walls of a house, or of those 

 rooms in it which are protected by the ivy, are much less damp 

 than those not so shielded. It is also generally supposed in 

 America that stone houses are much damper than wood. This 



