332 CENTRAL WALES: MIXED FARMING 



man gets careless and neglectful about matters for 

 which he would be taken to task if a tenant. Labour 

 was in fair supply but dear, men getting 32 a year 

 with their board and lodging, and on the usual farm of 

 a hundred acres or so there would be one or two of 

 such hired men. Where the custom of the country is 

 to have only single labourers living in there must be a 

 provision of small holdings to give a man a chance of 

 getting married and sticking to the land, but our host 

 disapproved of the way most of the recently created 

 small holdings had gone to tradesmen and not to 

 agricultural labourers. In his opinion the younger 

 generation were not taking so keenly to farming, 

 though he admitted the extension of the milk business 

 round Aberystwith had provided new openings, while 

 the increased sale of manures and feeding stuffs in the 

 district showed that the industry was prospering. 

 After taking leave of this good farm and good farmer, 

 for so he would be regarded out of Wales as well as in 

 it, we took a day or two off from agriculture, because 

 we had arrived at the verge of the mountains, where 

 the sheep become only a minor incident in the scenery. 



