274 Egg Collecting and Mat Making in Anglesey. [June, 



The following note has been communicated by Mr. W. A. 

 Watts, Bryn, St. Asaph, Wales :~ 



Egg Collecting Collecting.— Among the enterprises 



and Mat Making Anglesey Branch of the 



in An lese Welsh Industries Association is an egg 

 collecting depot. The depot building was 

 erected by the L. & N.W. Eailway Company at Llanfair P.G. 

 station. Beginning on a small scale, the scheme developed 

 steadily year by year until, in 1920, the turnover reached nearly 

 ^'36,000, while the number of eggs collected amounted to over 

 two and a quarter millions. During the busy season, as many as 

 95,000 ej?gs a week are collected by the Society's four motor 

 vans which tour the island and parts of Carnarvonshire, collecting 

 from each member at least once a week. At the depot the eggs 

 are carefully tested and graded by girls who. after long practice, 

 have become experts in this work, and so thoroughly is the work 

 done that Anglesey eggs have gained a high reputation, the 

 demand at the best prices being alwaj^s in excess of the supply. 

 Eun on co-operative lines the Anglesey Egg Collecting Depot, 

 Limited, as the Society is styled, now has 650 members. Every- 

 thing possible is done to encourage egg production : for six 

 months of last year an expert engaged by the Society travelled 

 round the whole district, visiting and giving advice to all the 

 members. 



Mat Making. — Another instance of a successful rural enterprise 

 is that of mat making, conducted at Newborough. The ancient 

 industry of mat making has been carried on at Newborough, 

 a village close to the sea, for many years, the material used 

 being Marram grass,* which grows on the sand dunes near by. 

 The grass is cut in August or September and is stacked ready 

 for use. Originally made for thatching stacks, few mats were 

 sent out of the neighbourhood and buyers could obtain them only 

 from local tradesmen, who received them from the actual makers 

 in return for groceries, bread and other necessaries, not for cash. 

 The rope made from the same material, however, found a wider 

 market, being used in railway works and slate quarries. 



During the War the industry was taken in hand by the Angle- 

 sey Branch of the Welsh Industries Association. It was believed 

 that when the importation of Archangel mats ceased, there was 

 a possibility of placing the Newborough product on the market 

 and so establishing a new trade for horticultural purposes. 

 Several of the leading nurserymen commendably agreed to try 



* See this Journal, February, 1914, p. 996, and February, 1913, p. 935. 



