Farming of South Wales. 



147 



Some springs have been tapped, and a sort of catchwork system 

 with stones may have been here and there tried. 



So far back as the year 1794 the farm-buildings of the west 

 counties were described as " incommodious, comfortless, and 

 wretched ;" and now, midway in the nineteenth century, the same 

 epithets may be most appropriately applied. Glamorgan, which 

 contains some fine specimens of old baronial and monastic barns, 

 has been surpassed by Brecknock in its agricultural premises ; 

 but, taking the district generally, there is an universal lack of 

 farm-buildings. A lease-tenant, when he takes possession of a 

 farm, frequently sees that all his spare capital must be expended 

 on his homestead, instead of being employed in draining and 

 other legitimate improvements of the soil. But it is not only on 

 farms without leases that there are no buildings ; where the 

 tenants are from year to year they are equally bad, several pre- 

 mises being without a single enclosed yard ! Many farmers, when 

 told to grow turnips, reply, " What is the use of growing turnips 

 when we have no sheds to eat them in ?" But, it having been the 

 custom formerly for tenants who had taken cheap leases to build 

 premises, there appears to be an erroneous impression that all 

 tenants can and ought to do the same ! 



The average rental of farms may be considered as under 40Z. 

 per annum. The smaller holdings are generally dearer in pro- 

 portion than the larger farm, simply, it is supposed, because there 

 are so many competitors for small parcels of land. There are 

 some few leases granted for 999 years, and others for " as long as 

 the sun rises and water flows ;" but generally the leases are for 

 lives. Those that were granted many years ago are frequently 

 uncommonly cheap, but what have been recently made exhibit an 

 increase of rent on the old ones from 50 to 300 per cent., and 

 land is now let at its extreme value. It is a singular fact, that 

 cheap leases frequently made the Welsh tenant indolent and 

 careless, and that an increase of rent has bettered his condition, 

 by making him a more active and industrious farmer ! But too 

 high rents are now frequently required, and little attention is 

 paid to the character and pecuniary circumstances of the tenant. 

 The man who gives more than land is really worth is often one 

 who has everything to gain and nothing to lose. From these and 

 other causes the capital of many of the tenantry is utterly inade- 

 quate for the proper cultivation of the land. The common prac- 

 tice of giving six months' credit at all agricultural sales will show 

 the usual style of money transactions. The lease in the western 

 counties is often granted for three lives, and may include that of 

 the occupier and two of his children. There are no restrictive 

 clauses as to cropping or selling any kind of produce, and nothing 

 is said about covenants to be observed at the expiration of the 



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