Farming of South Wales. 



119 



now made of stones and mortar, the roofs thatched or slated. The 

 cottages built with mud, of which Mr. Davies hopes the descrip- 

 tion he gives " may be the only existing memorials of such 

 dwellings in less than half a century," are rapidly on the decline. 

 As they fall down one built of stone is generally substituted. 

 Whitewashing the exterior, which is mentioned by a Welsh 

 bard in the sixth century, is still universally practised. In many 

 districts it is common to mix clay with the lime for colouring the 

 walls yellow, and the slate roofs are washed white 1 The interior 

 is divided into two apartments; one, in which the principal 

 culinary operations are performed, and the other is used for 

 meals, &c, and contains the beds, which are like high boxes 

 with sliding panels. The windows are very small, and the rooms 

 are damp, close, and dark. The fuel consists, in some districts, 

 of peat, with furze and fern, in others culm,* and the anthracite 

 and bituminous coal. The women are frugal, cleanly, and 

 industrious. They are well skilled in manufacturing coarse 

 cloth, but are singularly awkward at needle-work. Strangers 

 generally notice the market-women, who knit and carry their 

 baskets on their heads. They do not work much in the fields but 

 in hay and corn harvests. Most of the farmers have some lads, 

 or single men, who board and lodge in the house, and look after 

 the farm-horses. In some instances labourers have smaller 

 wages and the keep of their cow ; occasionally the privilege of 

 setting potatoes in the field. Farm-labourers are generally hired 

 by the year, not by the day, and then mostly have their corn from 

 the farmer at a fixed price. The religious and secular education 

 of the poor throughout this portion of the principality is very 

 much neglected ; lately considerable efforts have been made to 

 provide more ample instruction. In thus noticing the education 

 of the poor, it would be well to say a word upon the amount of 

 instruction generally given to the young farmer. Not only is it 

 (as is generally the case) totally deficient in providing a scientific 

 knowledge of his future occupation, but the common rudiments 

 of a sound and plain education are frequently dispensed with. 

 The fact that commercial schools are rarely to be met with, will at 

 once explain the numerous defects that must occur in the Welsh 

 farmer's early education. 



To glance at some of the important improvements which have 

 taken place in the well-farmed districts, will now be a more 

 pleasing task ; but as the description of the agriculture of the 



* Culm is the dust of the stone-coal, and is prepared for burning by being mixed 

 with clay or mud from the shore. It is then made into balls, and in a moist state 

 applied to the fire, and it produces no smoke. At night a casing of this wet culm is 

 placed on the fire, which keeps in well twelve hours, and thus forms a cheap and 

 convenient fuel. 



