Book 1. 



AGRICULTURE OF NORTH WALES. 



117.1 



their eves are injured. About Morlais, horses are not only 

 ordinarily fed on parsneps, but they are considered as the best 

 of all food, superior even to oats. 



Lucern a flood deal cultivated, and found productive. 



Hops to a moderate extent ; the reporter could not find that 

 the T&xcrium Scorodbnia was employed as a substitute, as related 

 in some botanical works. A species of Cvperu.* (most likely 

 Cam arenaria) used for twisting into halters and other ropes. 



7. Grass Lands. 



Of very limited extent, but meadows very productive. 



8. Gardfns and Orchards. 



Verv productive, and in general carefullv attended to. Chau- 

 monttlle pears brought to great perfection, and with grapes, 

 bulbs of the Guernsey lily, parsnep seed, and some flower seeds, 

 sent to the London fruiterers and seedsmen. 



Orchards generally attached to all farms. Jersey cider in 

 much esteem, and a principal article of export. Most of the 

 farm-houses have large arched doors, made wide on purpose 

 for the passage of cider-casks. A valuable work on the subject 

 of cider by the Kev. F« Le Conteur, entitled Apercu sur lu CvU 

 ture des Pmnmes, Jersey, ISOti. The pomeril, lamme, noir-toit, 

 and gros-amer, the cider-apples at present in vogue. 



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Very limited extent, and the waste ground a litile more so ; 

 only about 300 acres of rocky summits of hills ; these might be 

 planted 



10. Improvements. 



No calcareous manures found on any of the Norman islands. 

 Sea shells tried on clay with great advantage; and sea weeds 

 (vraic, whence vrack). Irrigation in'a simple manner, practised 

 in the narrow valleys from time immemorial. Sea encroaching 

 in some places, and jetties and embankments proposed, but 

 nothing done. 



11. Live Stock. 



Alderney cattle well known. Though there can be no 

 doubt that the breed was derived from the contiguous Conti- 

 nental coast, yet it is not known that in any part of it at present, 

 the same brefd is preserved in equal purity. Next, perhaps, 

 to the possession of urate, the treasure highest in a Jerseyman's 

 estimation is his cow. She seems to be a constant object of 

 his thoughts and attention : that attention she certainly de- 

 serves, but she absorbs it too exclusively ; his horse he treats 

 unkindly; his sheep most barbarouslj ; but on this idolised 

 cow his affections are rivetted as firmly as those of an Eastern 

 Bramin on the same animal. It is true that in summer she 

 must submit to be staked to the ground ; but five and six times 

 in the day her station i* shifted. In winter she is warmly 

 housed by night, and fa\ with the precious parsnep. When 

 she calves she is regaled with toast, and with the nectar of the 

 island, cider, to which powdered ginger is added. Could she 

 be prevailed upon to participate in all her master's tastes, there 

 is no doubt but that he would willingly bestow on her the 

 quintessence of vriac itself. 



To guard the purity of her gemalogy, and to prevent others 

 from being conveyer! to England, under the semblance of 

 Jersey cows, he lias invoked the interference of the insular 

 legislature. On the 8th of August, 17S<J, an act of the States 

 passed, by which the importation into Jersey of cow, heifer, 

 calf, or bull, is prohibited under the penalty of fcOO livres, with 

 the forfeiture of boat and tackle. A line of- fifty livres is also 

 imposed on ever\ sailor on board, who does not inform of the 

 attempt. The offending animal is to be slaughtered without 



mercy on the spot, and its flesh distributed among the poor. 

 The same act of the States directs, that when cattle of the 

 enumerated descriptions are exported, a certificate of their 

 being natives of the island is to accompany them. On the 

 vessel's return, another certificate is requited, that the same 

 identical number, and no more, have been landed. 



There is, indeed, at present,, little danger of the occurrence 

 of that evil which the Jersey man so much deprecates, as 

 he will not speedily become a convert to any heretical Opinions 

 which he may happen to hear from an Englishman ; lor 

 in this, as in every thing else, it may be observed, that 

 the rooted opinions of a people are more powerful than any 

 law. 



The oxen are distinguished by rising to a stature and bulk 

 much superior to the female. Persons who have not seen any 

 other than Alderney cows, would le surprised to witness the 

 size attamtd 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 dav from the middle' of April to the middle of July, and 

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

 glazed earthenware dishes till it throws up the cream, which 

 is separated, kept live 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 re- 

 marked, " i/hW/c est bonne pour i'Angleterre ;" and she goes to 

 the row -jobber. 



As to the merits if 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 Dun lop (in Ayrshire) cattle, 

 cross between the short-homed and the Alderney. 



Sheep a bad-shouldered coarse-boned breed, small homed, 

 and between a black and brown colour; laigest flock in tl e 

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

 many peri-h from want, and many by dogs. 



Horses a haulv small breed, very ill treated. 



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



Geese are plucked alive, when the feathers begin to drop, as a 

 measure of economy, and also to prevent the grazing-ground 

 being injured* It is also thought a relief to the animal. 



PtgeonM. Here, as in France, the Droit de Cotombier is at- 

 tached to certain residences; but not exclusively, as appeared 

 to le the case in France, to those held by a noble tenure. 



Iiees. The flavour 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, an»J 

 consequently intricate; flanked by high earthen fences over- 

 canopied by trees. In rainy weather they are canals of mud. 

 Two carts meeting each other on the cltemin du rot could not 

 pass; one or the other must back till it reached the nearest 

 field, gateway, or some other recess, to which it might retr. at 

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

 their internal economv, and the disputes which it engendered, 

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

 of the Jersey populace in 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. 



7828. Guernsey. A rocky hilly surface, of which SOOO acres are under cultivation ; the climate rather 

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

 classes 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, horns 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 ir. also 

 coarse and pendant. They are deep-chested, and the carcass, 

 compared with their neighbours, more bulky. Their coat is 

 also not so fine : and the colours, though varying as in Jtrsev, 

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

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

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

 appears in the best milkers in each island : these are observed 

 to have a yellow circle round the eye ; the hide yellowish ; and, 

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

 deep vellow, approaching an orange colour. 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 by the milk 

 of each breed is also naturally of a rich yellow colour. 



As to the question of superiority between ;he cattle of either 

 island, it is sr-ttled most decidedly by the inhabitants of each, 

 as may be supposed, in their own favour. The people ol Jers y 

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



section of their law of I7S9, respecting catt'c, they expressly 

 apply " atuc lies voiainet " the same penalties and restriction on 

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

 any ether quaiter. Into Guernsey, where no similar restric- 

 tions exist, Jersey cows have occasional y been imported. The 

 comparison between cov?s of each breed, as milkers, leads to 

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

 ticipated. 



Next it may he no'ieed, that thoueh the exportation of 

 Guernsey cows, compared with that of the same animals in 

 Jersey, i"s not extensive; yet that their price in Guernsey is 

 higher. One was noticed for which a farmer had offered a price 

 of thirty guijioas, for his own use, and had the orierrefustd. 

 .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 difference may 

 arise from their different practices in the process of churning. 

 The cream u> here left unskimmed, till the milk beconn s coa- 

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

 ther. An 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 asd tiles manufactured, and some spirits distill, d, which 

 formerly found its way into England under the name of French 

 brandy. 



SECT. 



II. 



Agricultural Survey of Wales* 



i hilly monntainovs surface of 5,206,900 acres, with a climate colder than tnat of England, and 

 ist in the proportion of thirty-four, the average number ot the inches of rain which falls in Wales, 

 y-two, the number for England. The soil is generally of an inferior description, and the great 



7829. A \ 

 more moist i 

 to twenty-tv.w, 



proportion of mountainous surface is fit onlv for pasturage and planting. Little exertion was mac c 

 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 Kev. v\. uavis of 

 Montgomeryshire^ whose work we shall adopt as our guide. 



7830 NORTH WALES. 1,974,-^10 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 

 the sea. The soil moorv, coarse, clavey.and otherwise unfavourable in most places, excepting in tn 

 on the banks of streams. Minerals' chiefly copper, lead, and iron. 1 he famous Mona and I ans i 

 mines in Anglesea have been worked since 1768 ; lead is chiefly worked m lhntshue. 



4 F 3 



and near 



in the vales 



Copper 



Excellent slate 



