1176 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Taut IV. 



breed beinot more or less mixed with coarse long hairs, called 

 by the iiianufacturerg kemps, making the articles in which they 

 api>ear of much less value. The characteristics of this hreed 

 are, larije woolly clieets, white bunchy foreheads, white le^s 

 covered with wool, no horns, and a broad l)eaver-like tail. 

 They are very hardy, and comparatively tame; being not so 

 much disposed to ramble la most other wild sheep. In shape, 

 however, they are far short of compact symmetry ; and were 

 this defect improved by the care and attention of the farmers, 

 the breed would be worthy of being universally adopted 

 throujihout the princil)ality. The>- weigh, when fat, from ten 

 to fourteen i)ounds per quarter. The averat;e of wool, includ- 

 ing the whole flock, is ten stone, of fifteen pounds each, from 

 every 100 sheep. 



The fourth kind is 'the black -faced and fine-woolled sheep, 

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

 hills, on the borders of England, in a line from thence to 

 Wrexham. 



The flavour of the mutton of the sheep feeding upon the 

 I^lanymyneich and Porthywaen lime-rocks is reckoned very 

 delicious, by tle nicepalated pupils of the Epicurean school : 

 and their woof is as fine as any in England ; that of the Rye- 

 Jand breed, ))crhaps, excepted. A person in travelling through 

 the country may observe several other kinds of sheep ; being 

 crosses from some or other of the above four distinct breeds : 

 but they are in general the ofRpring of chance and iristinct, 

 without being directed by any choice or system. 



The Merinos with their different crosses ; the Leicest, 

 Downs, and others, bred by amateurs. 



Hones. In Anglesea, for want of fences, the hordes, as well 

 as the sheep, are commonly fettered. Were colts of the best- 

 shaped brejd in existence thus fettered as soon as Ihey are 

 weaned from their dams, and the practice used from generation 

 to generation, their natural gait and shape must necessarily be 

 changed, at length, into awkwardness emd deformity. Few 

 linglish italiions have as yet been introduced into the island; 

 and those that have do not appear to have done much towards 

 imjiroving the native breed. 



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

 gomeryshire, great numbers of ponies, commonly called mer- 

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

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

 whence they are never lirought down until they are three years 

 eld, and fit for sale. What has tended to, and will in time 

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

 that iii 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 

 sheep ; and tlie place of sale exhibits, in some degree, an am- 

 phitheatre, where manhood and ponyhood strive for the vic- 

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

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

 the midst of the herd, and sei'/.es 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-tarvy from the summit cf 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 crob.ably 

 raised by a series of crossing between the English and 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 weight, they have no rivals. " They will ascend and de- 

 icend O'.ir mountainous staircases " vi'ith the greatest asility ; 

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

 than humanity, 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 strenpth and sluggishness 

 cf the heavy kind of horses would be egregiously misapplied. 



The vales of Montgomeryshire have long been noted for an 

 xcllent breed. Some attribute this superiority to a stud of 

 horses kept by Quei--n Elizabeth at Park, near Caer Sws, in the 

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

 from Spain 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 

 time furnished themselves with ' exct-llent draught horses, both 

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

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

 black or bay, strong, active, well made, and measure from fif- 

 teen to sixteen hands high. 



A custom, very injurious to the growth, strength, and sound- 

 ness of horses, prevails over the greatest part of the six counties ; 

 that is, working them too youni;, 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 hurses being worked from two to twenty years old, 

 without any apparent detriment saving a diminution of their 

 natural size. 



" The predilection which farmers manifest in favour of horse 

 teams ma-, in time, rfduce the nation to the dilemma of en- 

 acting a law to repeal the Mosaic law, and enjoin the flesh 

 eatable." 



Tender furze, bruised with mallets or ground in mills erected 

 for the purpose, was form< rly a great article of fodder in the 

 counties of Anglesea and Caernarvon. Farmers were then ac- 

 customed to sow furze for their horses, and sometimes to let the 

 crop at a certain price ])er aero, which was frequently found to 

 pay better than a crop of wheat; but Ceres at length seems to 



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

 general converte<l to bear more useful cro)>s. 



Ho^'i. The original ^Velsh breetl had small ears, which, 

 probably by a cross with the Bm kshirr s, pro<luced the slouch- 

 eared hogs, which were lately general throuiih the country. 

 They are slow feeders, and the" rearing of them is now upon the 

 decline, md'o^g place tothat of more improved breeds, esp:j~ 



Bees. " The ancient Welsh he'.d these industrious insects 

 in great veneration,, and believed them to be of Paradisiacal 

 origin." {Woltim's Lef;es Wattica, p. "ibi.) For this reason their 

 priests taught tliat the chanting cf mass was not acceptable ta 

 the Deity unless the lighted taiiers were made of their wax. 

 Out of their dulcet stores they brewed their national liquor, 

 metheglin, or the medicinal beverage. 



AVhen the country was almost one continued ^vildemess, 

 almost every hollmv oak was an apiary. Their nests on the 

 wastes were the property of the lords of the soil, and rented by 

 some of their vassals. On freehold lands they were claimed l^ 

 the respective proprietors. The discoverer of a swarm was 

 entitled by law to a reward of one penny, if they were domesti- 

 cate<l bees ; and one penny and a dinner, or in lieu of these the 

 whole of (he wax, if they were of the wifd race. Whoever cut 

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

 nest of bees, was to be amerc^<l the full value of both tree and 

 bees. The resiiective prices of different swarms were ascer- 

 tained by law. 



Early swarms were reckoned of fu'l va!ue 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 Welsh 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 sul)ject 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 l>ee-hive was appraised at 

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

 at twopence, a cow forty-eight pence, a yearling cilf fourteetj 

 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 tor one half share of the honey and wax when 

 they are killed annually in autumn, and the whole live stock 

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

 year. 



In Wales, as in Polcnd, when Fi-)irit and beer became more 

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

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

 yvkich 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 in that which 

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

 bontan of enjoyment intoxication ; an enjoyment which, whe- 

 ther, with Noah, it be procured legitimately from that *' tran- 

 scendant liquor" wine; with the Ameiican Indians, from 

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

 over all others, that it is more 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 been matle in the roads and bridges 

 of late years, especially by Lord Penrhvn, Wynn, Madocks.and 

 govem"ment, under the direction of Telford. Previously to the 

 year 17S5, the annua! export of slatrs fixim Ix)rd Penrhyn's 

 quarries at Dolawen did not exceed 10(K) tons ; which, owing 

 to the ruggidness of tlie road, were conveyed from the quarries 

 to the port, a distance of six miles, in panniers on heises' backs. 

 His lordship formed a new road, whicli gave immediate employ 

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

 quarries be extended the road nine miles further to Capel Craig, 

 through Nanttfranco and the romantic Interior of Snowdon, at 

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

 crease 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 IVfenai by Telford is one 

 of the most extraordinary works otihe kind in existence. 



Of canals there are several, with stU|)endous aqueducts andr 

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

 Dee, is the first in Europe. It was opened in November 1805. 



MunuJUctures chiefly blue cloth, blankets, flannels, and Welsh 

 plains or cottons. The best Welsh flannels manufactured in 

 IVIontgomervshire. "Welsh flannels made since the time of 

 James the First have the warp of fleece wool, and the \voof a 

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

 stockings and caps very general among the females of cottages 

 and small farms, -\rgillaceous schiotus is converted into slates, 

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

 amount within tliis district. 



Pyroligneous acid extracted from brushwood, at Hope ift 

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

 maniifactures to a moderate extent. Several agricultural so- 

 cieties. 



7831 SOUTH WALES. Six counties, and some islets, comprising together 2,470,400 acres of hilly 

 and mountainous surface ; generally of a salubrious climate; cold on the mountanis ; but, on the whole, 

 more temperate than the air of North Wales. The soil argillaceous red loam, or calcareous, hut gene- 

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

 of lead. 



1. Proper It/ and Buildings. 



As in North Wales. In South ^Vales the custom of white- 

 washing cottages is prevalent. In Glamorganshire, not 

 only the inside" and outside of houses, but barns and stables 

 also, walls of yards and gardens, the stone banks of quickset 

 hedgRs, and even solitary stones of large dimensions, .house 



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

 is traced to a very remote antiquity. DiodoniH biculus is 

 quoted as mentioning the Biitish custom of white-washmg 

 houses. Gentlemen's seats are distinsuishable from cottages, 

 not only by their size and plans, but also by tlieir colours. In 

 Glamoigaiishire gentlemen mix ochre with lime, to make theur 



