?2 Pogging the Land in South Wales. 



is turned in till spring, as the dry herbage shelters the 

 young grass shoots, and thus promotes their growth ; 

 and after reading the numerous evidences and opinions 

 quoted by Arthur Young, in his great unpublished work, 

 I cannot have the slightest doubt of the advantages of 

 the system. By adopting it as far as we can we should 

 at once keep our flocks in more healthy condition, save 

 money in feeding them, and add to the stock-producing 

 area of our farms by reducing the number of our cart 

 horses. 



But there is another ancient practice which Young, 

 as we have seen, alludes to under the term fog, given, 

 he states, in South Wales to the growth of the whole 

 year kept till the ensuing winter and spring — a practice, 

 he tells us, " commonly found nowhere else." Stock of 

 all kinds, he says, were fed on it during these seasons, 

 and the system was found to kill moss, and improve the 

 grass by the quantity of seed produced ; he further states 

 that an acre of. fog will support more cattle than one 

 acre of hay. I have made special inquiries, and have ob- 

 tained the following information from reliable sources: — 



" The custom you refer to," writes my informant, " is still in 

 existence in parts of Cardiganshire, Carmarthen, and Pembroke. 

 It is generally termed 'fogging the land.' Owing to the pro- 

 verbial wet weather prevailing in South Wales, many farmers, 

 rather than run the risk of a poor hay crop, prefer leaving 

 certain fields ungrazed from July till about February, when the 

 milch cows are turned thereon, then some young cattle generally 

 follow, and the horses get the last bite. Much of the grass 

 having withered, with some green intermixed, it is considered 

 very beneficial as preparatory to the stock being turned into 

 green pastures. The system has also its disadvantages, as, by 

 allowing the grass on the land, it tends to destroy the most 

 tender and nourishing grasses, and ultimately the quality of the 

 pasture becomes very much coarser.* The fogging of land 



* This seems to show that the land should only be hained once, 

 say, every four years, as an occasional haining could, I should say, do 

 little harm to the smaller grasses. 



