148 



Farming of South Wales, 



term. Certain pastures are not to be broken up, and the land- 

 lord reserves the game, timber, and the right to dig for minerals, 

 &c. The tenant is bound to keep the house and all buildings in 

 proper repair. It is the custom of the country, when a lease 

 expires, to remove all produce, even hay and straw. The entry 

 is commonly at Old Michaelmas. Should a landlord distrain for 

 rent, the tenant does not necessarily quit the holding, but strives 

 to struggle on and patch up his broken fortune. These leases 

 are liked by the tenantry as giving ample security for all outlay, 

 and the landlords are relieved from all burdens but the taxes, 

 and it is impossible, from the uncertainty of life, to run a farm 

 out of condition with the exactness which is often practised where 

 the term is for a specified number of years. " It is the nature of 

 man to flatter himself and hope for the best, by putting the evil 

 day of dying far off"; thus hope comforts the tenant, and uncer- 

 tainty the landlord." Leases for the life of the tenant only and 

 for a term of years are more common in the east, and these are 

 more particularly framed. Many landlords have entirely dropped 

 the practice of granting leases, and let all their farms from year 

 to year. 



The peasantry of West Wales are contented and thrifty. 

 Their wages are not often more than 6s. in the upper, and 7 s. 

 per week in the lower country. It is customary to board the 

 labourers wholly or in part during harvest, giving them the same 

 wages. They are neat and skilful in some of the minor branches 

 of husbandry, but in general field work, where strength and 

 exertion are required, are much inferior to English labourers ; 

 indeed a Lincolnshire workman at half-a-crown a day is not 

 dearer than most Welsh labourers at a shilling. In support of 

 this, I may state that task-work (which is seldom heard of here) 

 cannot be done cheaper in Wales than in the east of England. 

 This is naturally the case ; a man who consumes wheaten bread 

 and meat must be in better working trim than the man who eats 

 barley cake and a little butter ; and until the Welsh labourers are 

 better fed they cannot be physically capable of sustaining with 

 equal ease the fatigues of a hard day's work. Their principal diet 

 is oat and barley-meal merely moistened with water and made 

 into cakes. These cakes are pressed very thin, and baked on an 

 iron plank upon the fire. Barley bread is made in large loaves 

 fermented with leaven. Sometimes they eat oatmeal and butter- 

 milk, and a common beverage is extracted from the husk of the 

 oat. The farm cottages are built on the ground floor, and the 

 rent with a good garden is in the upper country from 30s. to 40s., 

 and in the low lands from 40s. tc 50s. per annum. If possible 

 the spot selected for building is close by a spring, but often it is 

 so near that it renders the floor damp and cold, The walls are 



