Farming of IlerefordsJdre, 



451 



red ears and a bull of the same colour for every cantrev in the 

 possession of the transgressor ; and if the cattle were of a dark or 

 black colour, then 150 in number for every 100. The same 

 number of cattle were to be presented by the Prince of Aber to 

 the King of London when doing homage for the Principality. 

 Speed records that Maud de Brehos, in order to appease King 

 John, who was highly incensed against her husband, made a 

 present to the Queen of 400 cows and one bull from Brecknock- 

 shire, all white with red ears. These facts are suggestive of the 

 mode in which the white-faced cattle have originated. 



Effect of Soil on the Growth of Timber Trees, — The orchards 

 alone of central and eastern Herefordshire would confer on those 

 parts of the county a sylvan aspect ; to this has to be added the 

 effect produced by innumerable clumps of trees and luxuriant 

 hedge-row timber, combined with a larger number of small park- 

 like inclosures than can be found in any other part of England 

 of equal extent ; these conjointly have the effect of giving to this 

 county an eminently woodland character. So congenial is a large 

 part of the soil of Herefordshire to the growth of timber-trees, 

 especially oaks, that they (the oaks) have been called " the 

 weeds of Herefordshire whilst coppices of ash, oak, and 

 willow, occasionally intermixed with hornbeam, occupy much 

 of the stiff clay soils on the silurian rocks around Woolhope, and 

 adjacent to Ledbury, as well as near the margins of many of the 

 upland streams. The steeper acclivities of the various rising 

 grounds are generally thickly strewed with thriving timber or 

 coppice. The demands for the navy during the war cleared the 

 county of a very considerable amount of its timber ; still sufficient 

 is left not only for pictorial effect, but also for domestic utility. 

 On the rich deep soils of the cornstones the oak shoots up with 

 luxuriant magnificence ; this rapid growth is, however, unfavour- 

 able to the development of that closeness of grain, and attendant 

 " toughness," which is usually identified with the character of 

 British oak. When cut up, these straight, rapid-growing oaks 

 are found rather to resemble that which is imported from Canada, 

 or the open texture usually found in bog oak. The deep, stiff, 

 and somewhat impervious soils of the cornst{mes appear espe- 

 cially adapted to the growth of oak ; whilst the ash affects more 

 open and drier soils, such as friable loams formed by the inter- 

 mixture of the more silicious substances derived from the debris 

 of the upper series of quartzose rocks of the old red sandstone, 

 with either fine alluvial matters, or the cornstone marls. Beech, 

 elm, and birch thrive well on the calcareous grits and grey cal- 

 careous sandy beds on the upper silurian rocks at the north- 

 western corner of the county. 



There can be no doubt that, for the production of apples for 



VOL. XIV. 2 H 



