182 
The Agriculture of Glamorganshire. 
merits. The majoiity of farmers express a preference for the 
" old custom," with which they are familiar, and they look with 
a certain amount of distrust upon the new and comparatively 
untried Act. They would have preferred that the decision of 
the arbitrators and their umpire had been final, and they fear 
that the right of appeal under the Act to courts of law when 
the award exceeds 1007. will lead to much needless and costly 
litigation. It is to be hoped that such apprehension will not 
be realised. It is contended that by the local tenant right, 
compensation was allowed for acts of husbandry and other 
matters of which the Agricultural Holdings Act takes no 
cognisance. On the other hand, the Act allows the tenant 
compensation for land laid down to permanent pasture with the 
consent of the landlord, whilst local custom did not embrace 
this in its code. It is expected that these anomalies will be 
adjusted, and that a scale forming the basis of compensation 
will be arrived at by the practised valuers of the county in 
conformity Avith the Act, and will at the same time embrace 
so much of the details of local custom as it is desirable to 
retain. 
General. — Dairy farming is not followed to any great extent, 
except in the suburbs of the larger towns, where it takes the 
form of a milk supply. It is questionable if any branch of 
farming is more profitable than this. Large quantities of milk 
are sent daily from Somersetshire, Monmouthshire, and other 
adjoining counties, not only to Cardiff, but to the populous 
valleys of the hill districts. 
When agricultural depression in the arable counties of 
England was at its most severe point, say about two years ago, 
it was frequently remarked by the local press and by public 
speakers that the farmers of this part of the county, if not 
wholly exempt, did not feel the pressure so much as their 
English neighbours. It was quoted as a proof of this that no 
farms were then unlet ; but the position is somewhat different 
now. There are at the present time more farms in the market 
and more land in the owners' own hands than has been the case 
for forty years. The high farming for which this division has 
been long noted is not now being maintained. Lighter crops 
are being produced, and the land is becoming more foul. A 
large proportion of the farms are insufficiently stocked with 
sheep and cattle, and much of the produce in the form of hay, 
straw, and even roots, is being sold off the land. The causes 
of this are only too apparent. A succession of unfavourable 
harvests for the past six or seven years, great losses of sheep, 
and the unremunerative prices of wheat and other grain, 
have all contributed to the reduction of the tenant-farmeri' 
