1 50 Farming of South Wales. 



interior of the country has already occupied so much space and 

 time, the limits of a report will not admit of more than a few 

 passing remarks on each locality. When Mr. Davies made his 

 report in 1814, the only three districts that produced any extent 

 of turnips were the vales of the Usk and the Wye, and a portion 

 of the plain of Glamorgan. The root was even here imperfectly 

 cultivated,, for we read, " the common farmers sow broadcast, and 

 take chance crops, thick or thin, clean or not." The turnips 

 were often harrowed to thin them, and this was supposed to 

 supersede the necessity of hoeing them ; and it is further re- 

 marked, " too many are left entirely in the state of nature." 



Beginning at the west, the first tract that claims our attention is 

 that of Castle Martin and the South of Pembroke. The course of 

 cropping mentioned in 1814 was, at St. Florence — " 1. Wheat, on 

 limed fallow ; 2. Barley ; 3. Peas ; 4. Barley or Oats laid down 

 with grass-seed." In Castle Martin : *' Wheat, on limed fallow; 

 Barley ; Barley ; Barley. Produce of first barley crop, 28 bushels ; 

 second, 10 to 20 bushels; and third still less." In the Hundred 

 of Roose : (( Fallow, wheat, clover, wheat ; and oats." Turnips 

 now form part of almost every rotation, though the courses are 

 very various. The following are among the principal: Fallow 

 (well limed and manured), wheat, turnips, wheat, barley, clover; 

 fallow, wheat, barley, turnips, wheat, barley, clover; wheat (on 

 ley), barley, turnips, wheat, barley, clover; oats, turnips, wheat, 

 barley, clover; and on some of the land unkind for the production 

 of turnips, the Welsh system moderated is still used. After some 

 of these courses, the land perhaps remains from two to four years 

 in grass, generally mown the first season, and depastured the rest 

 of the time. The management of corn and hay harvests, and the 

 principal operations of husbandry, are pursued on the same 

 principle as has been related, but of course in a better and more 

 effectual manner. The superiority of the farming diminishes as 

 it proceeds inland ; and above Narbeth the Welsh county com- 

 mences. Indeed few good crops of corn, and still fewer turnips, are 

 seen north of the red soil, for the coal-measures are wet, barren, 

 and generally produce inferior grain, and the pastures are crowded 

 with furze and brambles. 



When Mr. Davies visited Laugharne Marsh, he found " the 

 soil more to be commended than the management," and observed 

 only one piece of fallow in the 3000 acres. He relates that forty 

 successive white-straw crops had been taken without manure ; and 

 sums up the rotations as follows: — " Wheat, beans, barley, oats, 

 barley ; oats, then wheat again ; and the same course repeated 

 for twenty years, or rather from time out of mind." The marsh 

 presents a very different appearance now. About 1,000 acres 

 have since that period been reclaimed from the sea, which is now 



