FKUIT IN MONMOUTHSHIRE AND SOUTH WALES. 
271 
FEUIT IN MONMOUTHSHIRE AND SOUTH WALES. 
By Mr. John Basham, F.R.H.S. 
[Read November 21, 1899.] 
South Wales, including Monmouthshire, is bounded on the north by 
Montgomeryshire, on the west by St. George's Channel, on the south 
by the Bristol Channel, whilst its eastern boundary follows to a large 
extent the course of the river W^ye, the adjacent English counties being 
Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. It is divided into seven counties, with 
a total acreage of 3,058,632. The principal seaport towns are Cardiff, 
Newport, and Swansea, from which a very large quantity of coal and iron 
is annually exported. In the counties of Monmouthshire and Glamorgan- 
shire we have what is known as the Great South Wales Coalfield : this is 
fringed by a belt of limes one rock, and much of the land occupied by this 
formation is characterised by bare rocks or crags, but the soil that is 
formed by the decomposition of the rock is well known to support good 
pasturage for sheep. The Coal Measures, which occupy so large an area 
in South Wales, form an elevated tract intersected by deep valleys, and 
from an agricultural point of view the soil in these mountainous districts 
is poor. Red sandstone and marls with layers of magnesian limestone 
are to be found to a very large extent in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan- 
shire, whilst over the greater part of the Vale of Glamorgan the Lias 
limestone extends, as it does also on the banks of the Ebbw and at 
Liswerry, near Newport. Much of the soil in these districts is of a 
strong loam, and very heavy crops of corn have been grown upon it. 
Between Cardiff on the west and Chepstow on the east, bordering on the 
Bristol Channel, and along the rivers Usk and Wye, there are very 
extensive alluvial flats, or what is known locally as the Moors, which 
furnish very rich tracts of pasture land. 
The climate of South Wales differs materially from that of many parts 
of England, and varies in itself considerably. In the mountainous districts 
it is bleak ; moderately mild in the vales and on the southern coast, 
particularly in the far-famed Vale of Glamorgan. The average rainfall 
is considerably higher - than in England, the wet season not being 
confined to the winter months, for rains are frequent at all times of the 
year. 
The total area of orchards in Great Britain, according to the returns 
issued by the Board of Agriculture for the present year, is 228,603 acres, 
out of which only 6,515 are situated in Monmouthshire and South Wales, 
but this does not include " small fruits." Of this acreage 4,035 are to be 
found in the county of Monmouth ; the remaining 2,480 acres are dis- 
tributed as follows : Breconshire 1,191, Radnorshire 689, Glamorgan- 
shire 321, Carmarthenshire 158, Pembrokeshire 78, and Cardiganshire 43. 
There is an increase on the year of 29 acres, 26 of which are put to the 
credit of Monmouthshire. To those who are more intimately acquainted 
with the larger fruit-growing districts of Great Britain, such as Kent 
