117 1 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



'» found m varioui parts ofCaernarronibire, and worked to a great extent, (specially on Ix>rd Penrhynfi 

 , ,i ite Marble ia worked in Angletea; and limestone, freestone, and other stones and minerals abound 

 in different places. 



1. Property. 



Batatas from thirtj ahUUnga to 30,0001. Ths afftct of tiic 

 «-ii^t<.m ->f u tvaUtind, which prerallsd ill ossa Walaa, 

 minute ilivisi.xi of propartT. Biptalltj sndpovartj irenthana 

 in hand. Hut whsntha iiMtirm wis aboUshed, .mil slisnatlon 

 permlttad, an accumulation ofpropcrtj ni lbs necesaarj eon. 

 nquanot| vhlch became T.-ry pn rahmi In the two toil centu- 

 ries : .ui.l having .in-ivitl at US maximum *-ir!v in ttie <-i_-li- 

 entun . it has, rince iti.»t period, ihown tome mi tani t 

 .1 i. BnaTadaUnn hut Mili.tniM.iii and nrcumulalmn of rst.m-s 

 v. ill niiui.iii. ftoctuata. Hen ..re i*--it> l.iir.l-. or tacksmen, 

 ■I iii St otl-in.I and Ir.-I »n<l. 



Oamlemen oa* moderate income, and redding In the country, 

 i, t tin- .ill'til^ oi tlirir own ■ st.itt-s. 'I'hoM' nf greater pro- 



pert] commit the whole • ue of rents, repairs, and contracts of 

 nu> or pnrchue, to the management ofaaanta ; who, in gene- 

 ral, in- person] well qualified for the undertaking, brought up 

 i In- bualneas, and make it a point of honour and into 

 critx t.i do i.iMnt- to the landlord, and a point of conscience 

 n, a i.i ..iii., tin- tenant. Some of tile lawyer agents, having 

 bi their own Indiscretion and rapacity destroyed the very vu 

 Dfte ..f litigation in the people, necessarily diminished the Dum- 

 ber of their successors. 



On|j two combo d tenements harclieen noticed in the whole 

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

 ..i.-.liat.-lv bi capiat of the king, by 8 kind of mixed tenure, be- 

 t a een tin- feudal and allodial, going under the common appel- 

 lation of freehold. 



2. Builditigs. 



Some tine castles, as Powvs Penrhyn, and Chirk. Of farm- 

 eries, shout aeren in ten are in a very wretched state; good 

 new ones in Anglesea, and Caernarvonshire, Flintshire, and 

 ."Merionethshire. 



Cattagu in these and other counties are truly the halnt- 

 . bona "f wretchedness. One smoky hearth [for it should not 

 I,.- styled a kitchen), and one damp litter-cell (lor it cannot he 

 called a liedroum), are frequently all the space allotted to a 

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

 arc obvious, filth, disease, and, frequently, premature death : 

 and the, would he more obvious, had not these evils an almost 

 unsubduable vigour of constitution to encounter. Three 

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

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

 cially near lime-works, mines, coll : eries, &c, the example of 

 one mat 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 minutia?, 

 though trifling, are worthy of record, as they are descriptive of 

 their general character. 



Some exceptions in different places, and especially on I.ord 

 ]Ynrh\n\ cm ite. The reporter gives an exce'lent plan of a 

 cotta :>■ for a cottage farm, and also plans of farms of diderent 

 sixes, adapted to such cottages. 



The cottage farn-ltousc (./if. 1122.) contains a kitchen (a),bed- 



1122 



room or parlour (ft), pantry (c), barn-floor (..), two biys (t* and 

 f ), co\s -bouse (g), calving place and calf-house (A), pigsty (i), 

 and stairs (A.) to garret and bedrooms. 



One cottage firm for Ibe -ame house, and nine acres of land, 

 containsM-von maU enclosures {.fig* 1123. iz) including the ear 

 den. One for six acres, contains six enclosures (/>) including 

 the u-mbii. 



.*>. Occitpation. 



Largest farm of culttvatable land about fiOO acres, on the 

 mountains lnoo acres and upwards, at one shilling, or one 

 shilling and sixpence per acre : size on the increase, and ad- 

 mitted to be Esvoorable to wealth by the reporter, who adds, 

 " M-t that wealth should be valued, not in proportion to its 

 national aggregate, or quantity in the abstract, but as it is 



widely and generally difTu* d. An analogy esists betwe n 

 monopoly in all its forms and b macroci I'll dous constitution, 

 which nam canpoaa . ti 1 y oi a body symmetrically 



proportionate. 



r iiniii'T'., properly so called, are, as we may naturally ex- 

 pect them to be, rather too tenacl usof old customs* It K, 

 nowerar* illiberal to ch nre them with onatlnacy. In delaying 



the adoption of pretended improvements ; for, as it is not ail 

 gold that glitters, neither are one half of the parent Implement! 

 and machine ,, no, one tenth of the writings of visionary theo- 

 rists, I >etter than lumber and trash; for which the farmer 

 fhnuld not throw avv.iy bis hard-earned money, befbn .they 



an put to the test of experience, by tbose who have opulence 

 en ■! gh to bear disappointment . and who, from the advantage 



of n| r .-.in. atlon, may be better qualified to form a judg- 

 ment oi tin- probata e effects. (Show the tanners their true In- 

 terest, and, in general , their minds are U open to conviction, 

 and as susceptible to reason, as any other class Of men what- 

 ever. 



Laosatoat of repute. It cannot be denied that leases hare 

 dune good in Si ot and. \\'e are, therefore, driven (0 the 



necessity of supposing, that the Scotch and Welsh tenantry 



are verv different kinds of beings. The ciicumstatu * that nn- 



di r^ tlie VVelsh leases Inerrectual, is the want <.f capital ; and 

 what enhances the evil of this want is, the ignorance of many 

 fanners in the right application of what small capital they have* 

 By tilling too many 1 acres, they, as well as the public, suffer 



loss m every aire .Main a farmer, whohas means barely suf- 

 ficient to manage a farm of 50/. a fear tolerably well, thinks 

 a firm under I'm/, or l.Vti. beneath bis notice; and granting a 

 le kse to such a tenant, who has not one fourth of the capn.il 

 requisite to carry on Improvements* would be preposterous. 



I.ord Penrhyn executed draining, fences, roads, and all im- 

 provements requested by his tenants, and approved of by his 

 agents, at live pounds per cent on their amount added 10 the 

 rent. 



4. Implements. 



The original Welsh plough, a clumsy wooden fabric, still in 

 use in Caernarvonshire, and a few places in other counties ; 

 about 1660, Lammas's variety of the Rotheram introduced, 

 and now common ; Scotch plough now generally known and 

 approved ; the other improved implements tried by the 

 amateurs* 



5. Arable Land. 



" That farmers convert too much of the lands which were 

 formerly in tillage, into pasture, iu but a groundless cause of 

 alarm. " Farmers should, and always will, consult their own 

 interests; and whether the conversion of their lands into 

 tillage or into pasture be found the most profitable to them- 

 selves, the same will eventually be found most beneficial also to 

 the public. 1 * 



The com raised in North Wales not equal to its consump- 

 tion : fallows general and defended as necessary. In Anglesea, 

 a rotation of live white crops in succession ; most of them 

 barely return the expenses- Very little wheat grown, main 

 corn-crop oats, and next barley. Scarcely any flax or hemp 

 grown ; potatoes beginning to become a general crop. On the 

 whole, the management of arable land wretched, excepting by 

 the amateurs or proprietors. 



6. Grass. 



Land well adapted for tillage; is commonly left too long in 

 pasture; by which neglect it becomes mossy, and In some 

 instances covered with ant-hills. It has been said of some 

 meadow-lands in Wales, that a man may mow in them all 

 day, and carry home his day's work at night. This may appear 

 hyperbolical ; but it is so far true, that in some meadows the 

 mark of the swath never disappears; and a mower may be cer- 

 tain of having followed the same line, to a half-inch width, For 

 twenty or any number of vears back. In such meadows, the 

 trouble of raking the hay together is the great work of harvest. 



In the eastern parts of the counties of Denbigh, Flint, ami 

 Montgomery, consisting of the most fertile vales, the principal 

 ohject of the farmers Is to convert their hay and grass, as much 

 a.s possible, into butter and cheese. 



In the hilly parts of the afore-named counties, and in Angle- 

 sea, Caernarvon, and Meryonydd, their peculiar province is to 

 rear cattle, to he sold lean to the graziers of other districts. 

 There are but few acres of land that will fatten cattle; the 

 vales of the Severn andVyrmvy in Monmouthshire, the banks 

 of the Dee in Flintshire," and the vale of the Clwyd in Den- 

 bighshire, are the principal places where the oastures atlbrd 

 sufficient nutriment for that purpose. 



7 Gardens. 



Much wanted for the cottagers, especially in Caernarvon 

 and Merionethshire. Too many poor cottagers have not as 

 much as a leek or a potatoe, except what they either bee or 

 buy. In the greater part of the district, the planting, of orch- 

 ards would be thought a very wrong application of the soil. 

 On the borders of England are some orchards ; and in plenti- 

 ful years, a few farmers make either cider or perry for their 

 own beverage. 



8. Woods. 



Have been abundant in former times, especially in Anglesea ; 

 now very scarce there and in Caernarvonshire; more in Den- 

 bighshire, especially round Chirk Castle, Wynnstay, Erthing, 

 Vale of Clwyd, &c. Extensive young plantations made in 

 these counties, especially at Wynnstay and Lord Fenrhvn's. 

 A great deal of wood ; various young plantations in Meri- 

 onethshire, and much timber, wood lands, and planta- 

 tions in M on tgomery shire, which will long be the best 

 wooded county in North Wales. Proprietors planting 

 upon a large scale, and not raising trees from seed in 

 their own nurseries, formerly used to procure seedlings 

 of larch, fin, and pines, &c. from Scotland ; but ow- 

 ing to their heating in close hundles, and otherwise 

 damaging upon the road, not above one fourth, and fre- 

 quenl l\ not above one eighth of the number could be ex- 

 pected to grow. They are now more given to encourage 

 nurserymen at home, and nurseries are accordingly esta- 

 blished in different parts of the district. " < hie and two 

 year old seedlings of all sorts of forest trees, marly as 

 cheap as in Scotland, reckoning carriage, and one thou- 

 sand worth two of theirs." This is true when the tenderness 

 of seedlings, distance of carriage, and length of time, are con- 

 sidered- Williams, and other nurserymen, insure trees of 

 tbt ii ow n growth and planting for a number of \ears. 



9. Improvements. 



A marsh of ."1)00 acres in the southern corner of the island 

 of Anglesea attempted to be embanked in 1790a The embank- 

 ment was brought forward from both sides at the same tune, 

 and was intended to be joined in the middle of the marsh, 

 where the force of the Ude was greatest; when within about 

 twenty roods of a complete junction, owing to some of the 

 proprietors Withholding their dividends, the work was de- 

 •erled, after expending nearly 12,000/., and when a lew puundj 



