48 



PEMBROKE. Commenting on the increase of farmers and 

 graziers between 1881 and 1901, Mr. Richards observes : 

 " The Census figures indicate that many farmers holding two or 

 more farms in 1881 had given up one or more of their plurality 

 of holdings in 1901, which I do not think can have been the 

 case generally, at least in my own neighbourhood, and to the 

 extent represented, as it would indicate a considerable addition 

 to the class of farmers and graziers from outside their ranks. 

 I would rather suggest that the increa'se is due to many who 

 occupied small holdings and at the same time worked as agri- 

 cultural labourers, having classed themselves as labourers in 

 1881 and as farmers and graziers in 1901." The reason he 

 assigns is that up to the eighties very many men who occupied 

 a few acres of land in the northern part of the county and 

 were casual agricultural labourers as well, used to come down 

 to the southern and earlier districts for the corn harvest. With 

 the advent of improved machinery farmers did not require this 

 extra help a.nd the men ceased to offer themselves, and making 

 their own holdings their chief source of livelihood now class 

 themselves as farmers. 



Such a difference in classification would also be a partial 

 explanation of the decline in labourers. Other causes assigned 

 are: 



(1) The higher wages in the mining and manufacturing 

 districts of Glamorganshire, together with railway facilities for 

 travelling thither and the readiness with which employment 

 can be obtained. 



(2) The introduction of improved machinery for mowing, 

 reaping, binding, threshing, and other operations. 



(3) Insufficient cottage accommodation. 



(4) The system of education, which fits the children rather 

 for work as clerks, shop assistants, &c. 



(5) The reduction of profits in farming. 



On the third point Mr. Richards writes : " The old cottages 

 are tumbling down without being replaced. Within a radius 

 of two miles from here and about as many from the nearest 

 villages, there are farms of about 300 acres with only one 

 cottage on each, when there ought to be three or four; and 

 nine farms of from 100 to 200 acres each on which there is 

 no cottage at all. In my own small parish of 1,450 acres, eleven 

 cottages have fallen into ruins within the last forty years, and 

 only four new ones have been built, and a barn converted into 

 a cottage." 



RADNOR. Mr. Lewis considers that the decline is principally 

 due to the merging of farms. He writes : " Landlords repeat- 

 edly, when a small farm becomes vacant, rent it with the 

 adjoining farm, although there are numerous applicants, the 

 reason being that they save the upkeep of house and buildings, 



