1176 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



breed being mors at lew mixed vKb coarse tons hois* called 



by the manurai turn, kempt* maHtM thsutlclei in which thej 

 appear of much Ian * due* The characteristici of this Dreed 

 fir*-, large wooltj ctieeka, white bunclu ItinrtScanV white lea 

 covered with wool, no nnms, And a broad beaver Ilka tail* 



Then are v»-r\ h.irdv, and roinp.ir.ilt refj tame ; l*-:",; not v> 



much disposed i,> ramble as nasal othef ■ Dd ih< ep. In shape* 

 however., Lbey .ire f.ir ihort of compact ijrmmexrj ; end wen 

 this defect Improved bj the care ana ita niion of the farmer*, 

 the breed would be worthg of bebw onlversalli adopt d 

 throughoul the principality. Thai weigh*, when fat*, from ten 

 to fourteen pound* per quarter* The avenge of wool*. Includ- 

 ing the whole flot k, .s tan stone, of fifteen pound! each) from 

 i'Mi iho p. 



The fourth kind is the bUdt*lmoed and fine-wooUed iheepj 

 bred on the Long Mountain*, near Welsh Pool; and on other 

 lulls, on the borden of England, In a Una from thence to 

 \\ rexham* 



The flavour of the mutton of the sheep feeding upon the 



lyneich and Porthvwaen lime-rock* i* reckoned ver> 



i»,bj the nice palated implls of the Bplcurean i hool: 



and their wool is is fine as an*, In Rngiand; that of the Rye- 



land breedj perhapsi excepted* .\ person in travelling through 



nixj ma) observe several other kinds of sheep; being 



( rosses from lome or other of the above four distinct breeds: 



bul the] an In general the offspring of chance and instinct, 



■ being directed bj any choice or system. 



The Merinos with their different crosses; the Leicester, 

 Downs, and others, bred bv amateurs. 



Horses. In Anglesca, for want of fences, the horses, as well 

 a% the ■■beep, are commonly fettered* Were colts of the best- 

 skaped breed in existence thus fettered as soon as they are 

 weaned from their dams, and the practice used from generation 

 t" generation* their natural gait and chape must necessarily be 

 changed, at length, into awkwardness and deformity. Few 

 English stallions hive as yet been introduced into the island ; 

 e that have do not appear to have done much towards 

 Improving the native breed. 



In the county of Meirionydd, and the hilly parts of Mont- 



f:'i] U .r .shire, preat numbers of ponies, commonly called mer- 

 ins, are reared. They are exceedingly hardy, having, during 

 winter as well as summer, only the range of the hills, from 

 whence they are never brought down until they are three years 

 old, and tit for sale. What has tended to, and will in time 

 destroy, the Shape and good qualities of this hardy race, is, 

 that in the propagation of their species they are left entirely to 

 chance and instinct* 



They are driven from the hills to fairs, like flocks of wild 

 ■hi ep ; and the place of sale exhibits, in some degree, an am- 

 phitheatre, where manhood and pony hood strive for the vic- 

 tory. When a chapman has fixed upon his choice at a distance, 

 the wrestler, being generally the seller's servant, rushes into 

 the midst of the herd, and seizes the selected animal ; which, 

 never before touched by human hand, struggles with all its 

 might to extricate itself; and in some particular situations, 

 both have tumbled topsy-turvy from the summit of a steep 

 hill down into a river beneath : the biped still continuing his 

 grasp, and the quadruped disdaining tamely to submit. 



Another breed, somewhat larger than these, and probably 

 raised by a series of crovsing between the English ana the na- 

 tives, are hardy, handsome, and exceedingly active. Some of 

 them are too small for the team ; but for the road, under mo- 

 derate w e ig ht ) they have no rivals. " They will ascend and de- 

 scend our mountainous staircases" with the greatest agility; 

 and without giving their riders, who have more fool -hardiness 

 than humanitv, the trouble of alighting. The larger kind of 

 them Is exceedingly well adapted for the team, on small or steep 

 mountainous farms ; where the great strength and sluggishness 

 of the heavy kind of horses would be egregiously misapplied- 



The vales of Montgomeryshire have long been noted for an 

 excellent breed* Some attribute this superiority to a stud of 

 horses kept by Queen Elizabeth at Park, nearCaer Sws, in the 

 Severn vale, and to others brought into this part of the country 

 from Spam by Robert Earl of Shrewsbury. 



Gentlemen in most parts of the district, and farmers in the 

 vales of the three counties bordering on England, have for some 

 rime furnished themselves with exc< llent draught horses, both 

 for the coach and the waggon; which, when the markets are 

 oncn, are sold in great numbers. They are generally either 

 black or hay, strong, active, well made, and measure from tif- 

 teen to sixteen bands high. 



\ custom, vers injurious to the growth, strength, and sound- 

 ness of hones, prevails over thegreatest part of the six counties; 



thai is. working them tOOyoung, when their bones have not at- 

 tained firmness from their cartilaginous state, nor their power 

 of elasticity, contraction, and extension, which is necessary to 

 endure exertion and labour. Instances have, however, oc- 

 curred of horses being worked from two to twenty years old, 

 without an J apparent detriment saving a diminution of their 

 natural size* 



" The predilection which farmers manifest in favour of horse 

 may, in time, reduce the nation to the dilemma of en- 

 acting .t law to repeal the Mosaic law, and enjoin the flesh 

 • ■ 



Tender fane, bruised with mallets or ground in mills erected 



. Was form rly a great article of fodder in the 



nd Caernarvon. Farmers n en then ac- 



e for their horses, and sometimes to let the 



crop at a certain price per sen , h huh w .is fn quenth found to 



paj better than a crop ut' wheat; but Ceres at length seems to 



have grown ashamed of such husbandry, and the lands are in 

 gein-r.il eunvi-rted to bear more useful crops. 



Hogs. The original Welsh breed had small ears, which, 

 probably by a cruet with the Bexfesbhea, produced the slouch- 

 eand hogs, which wen- lately general through the country. 

 They an slow betters, ami the tearing of them is now upon the 

 decline, and giving place to that of more improved breeds, espe- 

 cially Berkshire. 



tires. " The ancient Welsh held tluse industrious insects 

 in great veneration, and believed them to be of Paradisiacal 

 origin." [Wottm'S UXfCf IX'iitiirer, p. V/»l.) Fw ibis reason their 



priests taught thai the chanting of mass was not acceptable to 



the Deitv unless the lighted tajvers were made of their wax. 

 Out of their dulc t stores they brewed their national liquor, 

 methegiin, or the medicinal beverage. 



When the country was almost one continued wilderness, 

 almost every hollow oak was an apiary. Their nests on use 

 w.i>tes were the property of the lords of the sod, ami rented by 

 some of their vaa-ats* On freehold lands they were claimed by 

 the respective proprietors. The discoverer of a swarm was 

 entitled h\ law to a reward of one penny, if thev were domesti- 

 cated bees ; and one penny and a dinner, or in lieu of these the 

 whole of the wax, if thev were of the wild race. Whoever cut 

 a tree upon another person's property, in order to get at the 

 no-t of bees, was to lie amerced the full value of both tree and 

 bees. The respective prices of different swarms were ascer- 

 tained by law. 



Early swarms were reckoned of full value by the first of Au- 

 gust ; such as swarmed after that day were not valued above 

 fourpence until the following May. 



In comparison with the prices of other articles at the time 

 the Webb laws were framed, bees seem to have been very dear, 

 and consequently scarce ; but the price set upon them by law 

 was much above the real price in commerce between buyer and 

 seller. This was owing to the veneration they were held in by 

 the legislature, and intended to deter the subject from offend- 

 ing against the statutes made to preserve them. As a confirm- 

 ation of this opinion, every thing that belonged to bees had its 

 value exaggerated in law ; even a bee-hive was appraised at 

 two shillings, when a new plough without irons was valued only 

 at twopence, a cow forty-eight pence, a yearling calf fourteen 

 pence, and a suckling calf one penny. 



The sacred esteem in which bees were held at length declin- 

 ing, apiaries were gradually reduced to their present fewness of 

 number. However, several persons still execrate the profane 

 act of disposing of their bees for money.; but will nevertheless 

 let them out lor one half share of the honey and wax when 

 they are killed annually in autumn, and the whole livestock 

 to be parted equally between them at the end of the fourth 

 year. 



In Wales, as in Polond, when spirit? and beer became more 

 common, the use of methegiin declined, and bees were ne- 

 glected. Hence it may be inferred, that the veneration in 

 which this insect was held in these and other countries was 

 owing to its affording almost the only, and at all events the 

 cheapest and most powerful, means of indulging m that which 

 man, in all ages and countries, has considered the summum 

 bonum of enjoyment — intoxication ; an enjoyment which, whe- 

 ther, with N'oah, it be procured legitimately from that w tran- 

 scendant liquor" wine; with the American Indians, from 

 eiver; or, with the Turks, from opium, has these advantages 

 over all others, that it is mere immediate and more intense ; 

 that it is within the reach of every one ; that every one can 

 have it to the full ; and that for the enjoyment of it no man is 

 envied by his neighbour. 

 11. Political Economy. 



Great improvements have l>een made in the roads and bridges 

 of late years, especially by Lord Penrhyn, Wynn, Madocks, and 

 government, under the direction of Telford. Previously to the 

 yeai 17S5, the annua! export of static from Ix>rd l'enrhyn's 

 quarries at Dolawen did not exceed 1000 tons; which, owing 

 to the ruggidnesE of the road, were conveyed from the quarries 

 to i he port, a distance of six miles, in panniers on horses' backs. 

 His lordship formed a new road, which gave immediate employ 

 to about 120 broad-wheeled carts and waggons ; and from the 

 quarries he extended the road nine miles further to Capel Craig 

 through Nantlfranco and the romantic interior of Snowdon, at 

 his own expense, the whole tract being his propt-rty. The in- 

 ciease of the slate trade caused his lordship afterwards to have 

 an iron railway, the length of six miles, from Dolawen quarries 

 to Port Penrhyn. 



The chain bridge erected across the Menai by Telford is one 

 of the most extraordinary works of the kind in existence. 



Of canals there are several, with stupendous aqueducts and 

 bridges. The aqueduct of the Ellesmere canal, thrown over the 

 Dee, is the first in Europe. It was opened in November ISO.'j. 



Manufactures chiefly blue cloth, blankets, flannels, and Welsh 



Slains or cottons. The best Welsh flannels manufactured in 

 Ion tgomery shire. Welsh flannels made since the time of 

 James the first have the warp of fleece wool, and the woof a 

 mixture of one third or one half of Welsh wool. Knitting 

 stockings and caps very general among the females of cottages 

 and small firms. Argdutceous schistus is converted into slates 

 for the roofing of houses and other purposes, to a very great 

 amount within this district. 



Pyroligneous acid extracted from brushwood, at Hope in 

 Flintshire, for the use of cotton dyers. A variety of other 

 manufactures to a moderate extent. Several agricultural so- 

 cieties. 



TS'I. SUl'TII WALES. Six counties and some islets, comprising together 2,470,400 acres of hilly 

 ami mOUntaJDOUfl surface ; generally of a salubrious climate; cold on the mountains ; but, on the whole, 

 more temperate than the air of North Walea The soil argillaceous red loam, or calcareous, but gene- 

 rally rich in the vales and declivities. Of minerals there is abundance of iron, coal, lime, and a good deal 

 id lead. 



1 Property and Buildings. 



As in North U ales* In South Wales the custom of white- 

 washing cottages is prevalent* In Glamorg inshire, not 

 on!* the Inside and outside of houses, bul bams and si ibh i 

 s lb of yards and gardt ns, the stone banks of quickset 



hedges, and even solitary b tones of large dimensions, .house 



blocks, Sec. near the houses, are white-washed. This practice 

 is traced to a verv remote antiquity. Diodoru* Biculus is 

 quoted as mentioning the British custom «>f white-washing 

 houses* Gentlemen's Keats are distinguishable from cottage*, 

 nol only by tht-ir si/ e and plans, but also b> their rolours* In 

 Glamorganshire gentlemen mis uclurc with lime, to make their 



