RENTS IN SHROPSHIRE 211 



cropped very close. The roots were at that time 

 promising enough and were no doubt helped by the 

 dung they had received. In this favoured district, 

 with its easy-working, responsive soils that have always 

 been under high cultivation, farms ran large, mostly 

 from 200 to 500 acres, and the rents had remained at 

 a high level, from 303. to 353. an acre. Changes of 

 tenancy had for many years been few, and vacancies 

 were eagerly taken up ; indeed, we saw some thinner 

 land, evidently not over fertile, which seemed over- 

 rented at the price it was commanding. Labour was 

 reported to be both good and plentiful, better both in 

 quality and quantity than it had been for many years. 

 Altogether a study of the Shrewsbury district may be 

 recommended to those who declare English farming 

 to be a lost and unprofitable art. 



Though the open valley of the Severn is mostly 

 occupied by large arable holdings, Shropshire farming 

 is not wholly of this character ; for close at hand is to 

 be found a region of small dairy farms on grass. A 

 low range of hills divides the Severn from the Dee, 

 and on the way to Oswestry we turned off the barley 

 land to the rather steep and diversified country prevail- 

 ing on this ridge. In the early morning light we got 

 an extensive panorama of the plain, surrounded by the 

 many sudden hills which give character to Shropshire 

 scenery ; Wenlock Edge presented only its face, but 

 the shapely Wrekin stood up boldly from the sun 

 haze, and away to the west were the Breiddan Hills 

 above Whitchurch, with a craggy, mountainous aspect 

 out of all proportion to their height. A little to the 

 north lay Oswestry, backed by the long, rolling 

 uplands of the Berwyns ; for Oswestry marks the 

 western termination of the English plain, and beyond it 

 begins quite abruptly what was of old " Wild Wales." 



