CHAPTER XIV. 

 FOOD OF WELSH PEASANTS. 



SOME illustrative examples selected from half a dozen 

 Welsh counties will suffice to indicate what is the general 

 dietary of the peasantry. It will be seen that it does 

 not vary very greatly from that of the adjoining country 

 of England, except perhaps in the somewhat greater 

 prevalence of " broth," although the " tea-kettle " 

 form of that " beverage " if we may so term what is 

 rather a cross between meat and drink is by no means 

 unknown to the labourers in other counties, but more 

 especially in Devon. 



BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 



Breakfast. Bread, cheese ; sometimes butter, tea. Dinner. 

 Broth and bacon in winter with bread and vegetables. In 

 summer, mutton or beef, bread and vegetables (on Sundays 

 the same as on weekdays, but with the addition of puddings). 

 Tea. Bread, butter, tea, and sometimes cake. Supper. Tea, 

 coffee, or milk, with bread and cheese. Note. Every labourer, 

 as a rule, keeps a pig, which is fed and killed for the use of the 

 family. The labourers also have gardens. Sometimes shepherds 

 have a cow as part of their wages. Very few men belong to 

 clubs. 



CARDIGANSHIRE. 



Breakfast. Tea, bread and cheese, or butter ; boiled milk with 

 oatmeal in it. Dinner. Broth (made of salted beef, potatoes, 

 and thickened with oatmeal), and salted beef or bacon (Sundays, 

 fresh meat, boiled rice and milk. Tea. Bread and butter, tea. 

 Supper. Scalded milk with bread, or both re-warmed with bread 

 and cheese ; sometimes tea. Note. In almost every case the 

 labourers have gardens, and in many cases allotments. They 

 frequently have a cow and a pig or two. The pigs are fed with 



