107 



fields, besides the 62 head tied up. Fifty years ago the ordi- 

 nary staff were a waggoner, a cowman, and a waggoner's boy, 

 hired by the year with board and lodging. For the waggoner 

 and cowman the money wages for the year were 13 to 15, 

 and for the boy, 3 to 5. Two labourers at 125. per week, 

 having a daily allowance of two quarts of beer, completed the 

 staff, except in harvest and on thrashing days, when Irishmen 

 and other extra hands were put on. Now I have four labourers 

 in cottages close to the farm, and two young men, lodged out 

 but boarded in, at from 18 to 20. Put roughly, the perma- 

 nent staff is six men instead of four men 'and a boy, and the 

 wages are about 40 per cent, higher. I have now a labourer 

 who has been continuously employed here for 48 years. In the 

 winter of 1858 his day wage was 2s. with rent and rates to pay. 

 Now his minimum is 2s. fid. per day with a good cottage free to 

 him of renf and rates. No deduction is made for bad weather 

 or for a day's illness." 



WALES. 



DIVISION Y. 



CARDIGAN. Of the general style of farming, Mr. Jones 

 writes : " There is less neatness to be seen than in years gone 

 by. Hedging, ditching, and draining are neglected, mainly 

 owing to deficient capital. Good building, high farming, 

 breeding high-class cattle, rearing horses of true type, style 

 and action, afford employment for a larger number of labourers 

 than the badly-cultivated farm and ill-bred stock." He 

 observes that more attention has been paid to poultry rearing 

 during the last 30 years, but mainly as an auxiliary to farming ; 

 the industry, however, is hampered by the lack of adequate 

 railway communication. 



CARMARTHEN. Mr. Rees writes : " Less attention is being 

 paid to the corn crops and more to the meadows and pastures ; 

 farmers are, as far as possible, curtailing their arable land." 

 He also observes that whereas less than ten years ago the sickle 

 was still much in vogue in the district, it has now been almost 

 universally replaced by binders, reapers, &c. He adds, that a 

 few nurserymen in the district combine a little farming with 

 their industry, and that a number of men, especially in spring- 

 time, are engaged at the work who otherwise would doubtless 

 have migrated to the coalfields. 



CARNARVON. Mr. Koberts states that no particular agricul- 

 tural industry has been started in the district, but the County 

 Council have voted a sum of money towards the experimental 

 growth of sugar-beet. 



