Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF NORTH WALES. 



1173 



their eyes are Injured, About Morlais, horses are not only 

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

 of all food, superior even to oats. 



Lucem a good deal cultivated, and found productiTe. 



Hopt to a moderate extent ; the reporter oould not find that 

 the Teucriitni Scorodbnia weis employed asa substitute, as related 

 in some botanical works. A species of Cyp6ru (most likely 

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



7. Grass Lands. 



Of very limited extent, but meadows very productive. 



8. Gardens and Orchards. 



Very pro<luctive, and in general carefully attended to. Chau- 

 montelle 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 Ilev. F. Le Conteur, entitled Apercu sur la Cul- 

 iure det Pommes, Jersey, 1806. The pomeril, lamme, noir-toit, 

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



9. Woods and Plantations. 



Verv limited extent, and the waste ground a little 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. 

 6ea 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. Livestock. 



Aldemey 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 breed is preserved in equal purity. Next, perhaps, 

 to the possession of vraic, 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 barbarously ; 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 if, shifted. In winter she is warmly 

 housed by night, and fed 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 ttriac itself. 



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

 from being conveyed to England, under the semblance of 

 Jersey cows, he has invoked the interference of the insular 

 legislature. On the 8th of August, 1789, an act of the States 

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

 calf, or bull, is prohibited under the penalty of '/OO livres, with 

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

 imposed on every sailor on board, who does not inform of the 

 attempt. The offending animal is to be slaughtered without 



enumerate<l descriptions are exported, a certificate of theijr 

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

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

 identical number, and no more, have l)een landed. 



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

 of that evil which the Jerseyman so much deprecates, as 

 he will not speedily become a convert to any heretical opinions 

 which he may ha))pen to hear from an Englishman ; for 

 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 Aldemey cows, would le surprised to witness the 

 sLte attained by some oxen of the same breed, which may be 

 seen in the Jersey carts. 



The object of tlie dairy is butter : the cows are milked thrice 

 a day 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 five or six days, and then churned by itself. 

 Theprime milkers are not generally exported. After the young 

 cow has borne a calf or two, it is sometimes significantly re- 

 marked, " qit'elle est bonne pour I'Avuleterre ;" and she goes tp 

 the cow -jobber. 



As to Wie merits of the Jersey con-s 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 Dunlop (in AjTshire) cattle, 

 cross between the short-homed and the Aldemey. 



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

 and between a black and brown colour; largest flock in the 

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

 many perish from want, and many by dogs. 



Horses a hardy 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. 



Pif;eviis. Here, as in France, the Droit de ColomUer is at- 

 tached to certain residences ; but not exclusively, as appeared 

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



Bees. The flavour of Jersey honey highly vaunted, probably 

 from the numerous flowering plants, legumes, fruit-irees, gar- 

 den plants left to seed, &c. 



12. Political Economy. 



Roads numerous, narrow, winding, crossine each other, and 

 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 chcmin du rui could not 

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

 field, gateway, or some other recess, to which it might retreat 

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

 their internal economy, and the disputes which it engendered, 

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

 of the Jersey populace in swearing. 



Manvfacturesi'evi : 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, ^d a bad 

 English, 



7828. Guernsey. A rocky hilly surface, of which 8000 acres are under cultivation ; the climate rather 

 moister than that of Jersey, and the soil generally light, on granite, gneiss, or schistus. 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 pjoduce applied to improving the roads. 



Lire 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 thiok, but not long; 

 never with the graceful short curve observed in some Jersey 

 cattle, and in the short-homed breed. The dewlap ir, also 

 coarse and jiendant. 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 Jersey, 

 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 yellow, 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 the cattle of either 

 island, it is settled most decidedly by the inhabitants of each, 

 as may be supposed, in their own favour. The people of Jersey 

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



section of their law of 17S9, respecting cattle, they expressly 

 apply " aux ties voisines " 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 occasionally been imported. The 

 comparison between cows of each breed, as milkers, leads to 

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

 ticipated. 



>>ext it may be noticed, that thoujjh the exportation of 

 Guernsey cows, compared with that of the same animals in 

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

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

 of thirty guineas, for his own use, and had the otlier refused. 

 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 diffierence may 

 arise from their different practices in the process of churning. 

 The cream is here left unskimmed, till the milk,becomes coa- 

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

 ther. As little attmtion 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 and tiles manufactured, and some spirits distilled, which 

 formerly found its way into England under the name of French 

 brandy. 



Sect. II. Agricultural Survey of Wales. 



7829. A hilly mountainous surface of 5,206,000 acres, with a climate colder than that of England, and 

 more moist in the proportion of thirty-four, the average number of the inches of rain which falls in Wales, 

 to twenty-two, the number for England. The soil is generally of an inferior descrijition, and the great 

 proportion of mountainous surface is fit only for pasturage and planting. Little exertion was made in 

 cultivation till the middle of the eighteenth century ; from that period to the present agriculture has been 



fradually improving. A general view of it, as in 1809, has been published by the Rev. W. Davis of 

 lontgomeryshire^ whose work we shall adopt as our guide. 



7830. NORTH WALES. l,974,,510acres, 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 and near 

 the sea. Tne soil moory, coarse, clayey, and otherwise unfavourable in most places, excepting in the vales 

 on the banks of streams. Minerals chiefly copper, lead, and iron. The famous Mona and Paris Copper 

 niines in Anglesea have been worked since 1768 ; lead is chiefly worked in Flintshire. Excellent slate 



4 F 3 



