1130 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



PAW IV. 



much superior to the ft?male. Persons who have not seen any 

 other than Aldemey cows, would be surprised to witness 

 the size attained by some oxen of the same breed, which may 

 be seen in the Jersey carts. 



The object of the dairy is butter : the cows are milked thrice 

 a day from the middle of A{)ril to the middle of July, and 

 twice a day during the rest of the year; the milk is kept in 

 glazed earthen-ware dishes till it throws up the cream, which is 

 separated, kept five or six days, and then churned by itself. 

 The prime milkers are not generally exported. After the young 

 cow has borne a calf or two, it is sometimes significantly 

 remarked, " yu'eWe est bonne pour I'Angleterre; " and she goes 

 to the cow-jobber. 



As to the merits of the Jersey cows the reporter observes, if 

 the palm can be contested with them by any, it will be by 

 a breed little known in the south, the Dunlop (in Ayrshire) 

 cattle, a cross between the short-homed and the Aldemey. 



Sheep a bad shouldered coarse boned breed, small homed, 

 and between a black and brown color; largest Hock in the 

 island forty ! weight of carcase fifty pounds ; in the winter 

 many perish from want, and many by dogs. 



Horses a hardy small breed, very ill treated. 



Swine, white, long-legged, flap-eared. 



Geese are plucked alive, when the feathers drop, as an article 



of economy, and also to prevent the craiing-ground being in- 

 jured. It is also thought a relief to the animal. 



Pigeons. Here, as in France, the Droit de Colombier is at- 

 tached to certain residences; but not exclusively, as appeared 

 to be the case in Frantre, to those held by a noble tenure. 



Bees. The flavor of Jersey honey highly vaunted, probably 

 from the numerous flowering plants, legumes, fruit trees, gar- 

 den plants left to seed, &c. 



12. Political Economy. 



Roads numerous, narrow winding, crossing each other, and 

 consf fluently intricate ; flanked by high earthen fences over-ca- 

 nopied by trees. Jnrainy weather they are canals of mud. Two 

 carts meeting each other on the chemin du roi, could not pass ; 

 one or the other must back till it leached the nearest field; 

 gateway, or some other recess, to which it might retreat, 

 during the passage of the other. To this little circumstance in 

 their internal economy, and the disputes which it engendered, 

 may, perhaps, in part, be attributed the remarkable proficiency 

 of the Jersey populace m swearing. 



Manufactures few : some boots, shoes, and cordage exported : 

 an oyster fishery to the east of the island. English law as to 

 poor rates exists ; but as the poor are few, it is not necessary to 

 act on it. Dialect of Jersey a corrupted French, and a bad 

 English. 



7042. Guernsey. A rocky hilly surface, of which 8000 acres are under cultivation ; the climate rather 

 moister than that of Jersey, and the soil generally light, on granite, gneiss, or schistus. The operative 

 cJasses resemble those of England more than those of Jersey, 



Agriculture much the same as in Jersey ; Guernsey figs much 

 esteemed. Some land embanked and sold with permission of 

 government, and the produce applied to improving the roads. 



Live Stock. Guernsey cattle are larger-boned, taller, in every 

 respect more stout and coarsely made than those of Jersey. 

 The front is wide, homs divergent and thick, but not long; 

 never with the graceful short curve observed in some Jersey 

 cattle, and in the short-horned breed. The dewlap is also 

 coarse and pendant. They axe deep-chested, and the carcase, 

 compared with their neighbors', more bulky. Their coat 

 is also not so fine : and the colors, though varying as in Jer- 

 sey, on the whole appear more dark. Some, but not so many, 

 are found cream-colored, and the breed may safely be pro- 

 nounced more stout and hardy. In one respect, a similarity 

 appears in the best milkers ineach island : these are observed 

 to nave a yellow circle round the eye ; the hide yellowish ; and 

 in particular, the skin of the tail at its extremity appears of a 

 deep yellow, approaching an orange color. The same circum- 

 stance has been since observed to exist in good milkers of other 

 breeds ; but in Guernsey at least, on examination, this yellow- 

 ness is general and striking. The butter produced bv the 

 milk of each breed is also naturally of a rich yellow color.* 



As to the question of superiority between the cattle of either 

 island, it is settled most decidedly by the inhabitants of each, 

 as may be supposed, in their own favor. The people of Jersey 

 have gone furthest in support of their opinion. By the third 



section of their law, of 17S9, respecting cattle, they expressly 

 apply " aux iles voisines," the same penalties and restriction on 

 importation of cows, heifers, and bulls, as on importation from 

 any other quarter. Into Guemsfn, where no similar restric- 

 tions exist, Jersey cows have occasionally been imported. The 

 comparison bet\veen cows of each breed, as milkers, leads to 

 that result which, in the place where it is made, might be an- 

 ticipated. 



yext it may be noticed, that thoujjh the exportation of 

 Guernsey cows, compared with that ot the same animals in 

 Jersey, is not extensive, yet that their price in Guernsey is 

 higher. One was noticed for which a farmer had olfered 

 a price of thirty guineas, for his own use ; and the offer refused. 

 As to the quality of the butter also, in each island, it may be 

 observed, that the preference is usually given to that of Guern- 

 sey. In this article indeed, in some degree the diiference may 

 arise from their different practices in the process of churning. 



The cream is here left unskimmed, till the milk becomes coa- 

 gulated: on the third day milk and cream are churned toge- 

 ther. As little attention has yet been given to the improve- 

 ment of the breed of cattle, as in Jersey. 



Roads improved under the government of Sir John Doyle^. 

 Bricks and tiles manufactured, and some spirits, which for- 

 merly found its way into England, under the name of French 

 brandy. 



Sect. II. Agricultural Survey of Wales. 



7043. A hilly mountainous surface of 5,206,900 acres, M^ith a climate colder than that 

 of England, and more moist in the proportion of thirty-four, the average number of the 

 inches of rain which falls in Wales, to twenty-two, the number for England. The soil 

 is generally of an inferior description, and the great proportion of mountainous surface is 

 fit only for pasturage and planting. Little exertion was made in cultivation till the 

 middle of the eighteenth century : from that period to the present, agriculture has been 

 gradually improving. A general view of it, as in 1809, has been published by the Rev. 

 W. Davis, of Montgomeryshire, whose work we shall adopt as our guide. 



7044. NORTH WALES. 1,974,510 acres, chiefly of mountainous surface, in six counties, including the 

 Isle of Anglesea. The climate humid and cold in elevated situations, but warmer in the vales and near the 

 sea. The soil moory, coarse, clayey, and otherwise unfavorable in most places, excepting in the vales 

 on the banks of streams. Minerals chiefly copper, lead, and iron. The famous Mona and Paris Copper 

 Mines in Anglesea, have been worked .since 1768 ; lead is chiefly worked in Flintshire. Excellent slate is 

 found in various parts of Caernarvonshire, and worked to a great extent, especially on Lord Penrhyn's 

 estate. Marble is worked in Anglesea, and limestone, freestone, and other stones and minerals abound in 

 difterent places. 



1. Property. ' 



Estates from thirty shillings to 30,000/. The efliect of the 

 custom of gavelkind, whicli obtained all over Wales, was a too 

 minute division of property. Equality and poverty went hand 

 in hand. But when the custom was abolished, and alienation 

 permitted, an accumulation of property was the necessary con- 

 sequence, which became very prevalent in the two last centu- 

 ries : and havins; arrived at its maximum early in the eigh- 

 teenth century, it has, since that period, shown some instances 

 of retrogradation : but subdivision and accumulation of estates 

 will naturally fluctuate. Here are no petty lairds or tacksmen, 

 as in Scotland and Ireland. 



Gentlemen of moderate income, and residing in the country, 

 transact the affairs of their own estates. Those of greater pro- 

 perty commit the whole care of rents, repairs, and contracts of 

 sale or purchase, to the management of agents; who, in gene- 

 ral, are persons well quali(i(,d for the undertaking, brought up 

 solely to the business, and make it a point of honor and inte- 

 grity to do justice to the landlord, and a jioint of conscience 

 not "to oppress the tenant. Some of the lawyer agents, having 

 by their own indiscretion and rapacity destroyed the very vis 

 wt<a of litigation in the people, necessarily diminished the num- 

 ber of their successors. 



Only two copyhold tenements have been noticed in the whole 

 district. All the other estates are held either mediately or im. 

 mediately in ccpile of the King, by a kind of mixed tenure, be- 



I tween the feudal and allodial, going under the common appel- 

 lation of freehold. 



2. Buildings. 



Some fine castles, as Powys, Penrhyn, and Chirk.' Of farm- 

 eries, about seven in ten are in a very wretched state ; good 

 new ones in Anglesea, and Caernarvonshire, Flintshire, and 

 Merionethshire. , 



Cottages', in these and other counties are truly the habita- 

 tions of wretchedness. One smoky earth, for it should not be 

 styled a kitchen ; and one damp litter-cell, for it cannot be 

 called a bed-room, are frequently all the space allotted to a 

 laborer, his wife, and four or five children. The consequences 

 are obvious ; filth, disease, and, frequently, premature death : 

 and they would be more obvious, had not these evils an almost 

 unsubduable vieor of constitution to encounter. Three- 

 fourths; of the victims of the putrid fever, perish in the me- 

 phitic air of these dwellings. However, in some parts, espe- 

 cially near lime works, mines, collieries, &c. the example of 

 one neat cottager is followed by others. Here, their dwellings 

 are frequently white-washed; their children are industrious 

 in collecting road manure, which is preserved within circles of 

 loose stones, for the use of their gardens. These minutiae, 

 though trifling, are wor ' 

 of their general characte 



Some exceptions in different places, and especially on Lord 

 Penrhyn's estate. The reporter gives an excellent plan of a 



