Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF NORTH WALES. 



1175 



more would have comp!eted the whole, as the materials wert 

 already cnrried on the spot. On the 23d of January, 1796, an 

 uncommonly high tide added twenty roods more to "the breach, 

 in which state it now lies. The bank was made of furze fag- 

 gots, bound with double cordage, covered with sand, then with 

 sods, and on the sea-side with a stone pavement, eighteen 

 inches deep at the top, and diminishing to nine inches at the 

 bottom. It was fifty -one yards wide at the base, four yards at 

 the summit, and five yards high ; the slope of the sea-side to 

 that of the land -side, as seven to four. 



The embankment and improvement of Traeth-Mnwr and 

 Traeth-Bychan aands, between Caernarvon and Merioneth- 

 shires, have been above 170 years in contemplation, and never 

 yet performed, tn 1625, S'ir John Wynne, of Gwvdir, in- 

 tended to have brought over Sir Hugh Myddleton, tlie cele- 

 brated engineer, to undertake the work ; but no materials 

 were wasted, save ink and paper. In the year 1719, some 

 Dutch adventurers made a proposal to the proprietors, but to 

 no ertect. In 1770, the late Bell Lloyd, Esq. who was always 

 active in works of public utility, and others, brought the sub- 

 ject afresh under consideration ; at the same time proposing 

 a nearer road from London to Dublin, across the Traeth-Mawr 

 sands, when embanked. Golbome, the engineer, was sent 



down by the Duke of Ancaster, and two estimates were made. 

 The late Dr. WorUiington was peculiarly active in forwarding 

 the work. He had gone so far as to procure subscriptions to 

 the amount of '29,0001. and upwards, when the whole scheme 

 was frustrated by the mean spirit and refractoriness of some 

 neighbouring proprietors. 



In 1809, W. A. Madocks, Esq. M.P., having a considerable 

 estate on the Caernarvonshire side, and having there em- 

 banked Penmorva marshwith great profit {,ftg. 1124. a), and 

 founded the village of Tremadoc (6), commenced embanking 

 the sands of Tiaeth-Mawr (c), by carrying out from both 

 shores an immense bank (</) of stony materials deposited and 

 left to find their own slojpe by the washing of the tides. The 

 two banks were within less than a furlong of being joined mi 

 the middle ; but owing to the force of the tides, and the em- 

 barrassments of the very spiritedproprietor, it was not com- 

 pleted before he was ruined. The persons, however, into 

 whose hands the property fell brought it to a successful con. 

 elusion ; and its proprietor, who had settled in the neighbour- 

 hood, and is lately dead, yet lived long enough to see realised 

 by others all that he had anticipated, and for which be had 

 sacrificed a very considerable fortune. 



The River Dee Company, established by Act of Parliament 

 in 1740; by several embankments made in the vears 1754, 

 1765, 1769, and 1790, on the river Dee, in Flintshire, to keep 

 out the tide and land-floods, they have been enabled to gain 

 3100 acres, which are now covered with good crops of com 

 of liicem, and of artificial grasses ; and the whole redeemed 

 waste is incorporated into a township, bearing the very appro, 

 priate name of Sealand. 



" In various parts of the coast of Anglesea, and the other 

 maritime counties of North Wales, there is still much to be 

 done by embanking. Caernarvonshire has been eminently 

 fortunate in the acquisition of W. A. Madocks among its lead- 

 ing improvers. Indeed his improvements are of such magni- 

 tude and varietv, designed with such taste, and executed with 

 such facility, tliat a minute report of them would appear, to 

 those who have not personally visited the place, more like the 

 reveries of romance, than the narrative of genuine description. 

 In harbours, embankments, canals, buildings, roads, plant- 

 ations, and rural and commercial improvements in general, 

 nothing less than a Tremadoc Guide pamphlet can do justice to 

 the founder." 

 10. Ltve Stock. 



Cattle and copper the staple exports of Anglesea. When 

 numerous herds are bought in the island for the English mar- 

 kets, they are compelled to swim in droves across the strait of 

 the Menai ; and although numbers of the weaker sort are 

 sometimes swept down by the force of the current for some 

 miles, vet losses seldom or never happen. A chain bridge has 

 been thrown across this strait. 



The characteristics of a choice Anglesea ox, must agree 

 in most points with those of a lloman one, as described by 

 t^,olumella : coal-black colour, with whit* appendages ; re- 

 markably broad ribs; high and wide hips; deep chest; large 

 dewlap; flat face; and long horns, turning upwards. Bake- 

 WL-n thought, that in some points they were nearer his idea of 



perfection in shape, than any other he ever saw ; his own im- 

 proved breed excepted. Some farmers aspiring at a select 

 stock, by having their he-calves gelt under their dams, their 

 horns become of a yellower colour, longer, and finer than com- 

 mon ; and, upon the whole, nearer the present idea of sym- 

 metry, liie average weight of their quarters, when fat, at 

 three' or four years old, is from eight to eleven score pounds. 



The promontory of Lleyn and Evionydd, in Caernarvonshire, 

 having the same kind of undulated surface, though not al- 

 together so good a soil as Anglesea, has likewise a breed of 

 cattle similar in several of their characteristics. 



The cattle in the remaining part of Caernarvonshire, and in 

 the whole of the county of Meirionydd, some few select stocks 

 excepted, seem to be diminutives of the above breeds of Angle- 

 sea, Lleyn, and Evionydd ; having nothing to recommend 

 them, save their extreme hardiness, and consequent cheapness 

 of rearing. The highlands of the counties of Denbigh and 

 Montgomery abouiKl with the same puny race. In the vales, 

 and in the county of Flint, the cattle are of a superior kind, 

 larger, and of all varieties of colours. The natives of the sea- 

 coast from Abergelen to Holywell, and thence along the Dee 

 towards Cheshire, are reckoned very quick feeders. 



Neither good butter nor cheese are made in North Wales by 

 ordinary farmers. 



Sheep. The largest of the native breeds is that of Anglesea; 

 they have white legs and faces, and are generally without 

 horns. 



The second kind of sheep in North Wales is that peculiar to 

 the mountains. They have generally white faces and legs ; 

 some have horns, and others none. The smaller sort of th&m 

 weigh from seven to nine pounds per quarter ; and give wool 

 from three quarters of a pound to one pound and a half. 



The third kind is peculiar to the Kerry hills in Montgo- 

 meryshire ; being, perhaps, the only species in North Wales 

 which produces perfect wool : that of every other Welsh 



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