196 The Agriculture of Glamorgansldre. 
not very favourable to the growth of the best class of timber. 
The soils, resting on the shales and sandstones of the carboni- 
ferous formation, are poor and uncertain. The situations are 
for the most part exposed to strong westerly gales from the 
Atlantic Ocean. 
The Agricultural Returns show that 23,687 acres are occupied 
by timber in the county. The greater proportion of this 
acreage must consist of coppices, as the area occupied by 
heavy timber is not large. The coppices are chiefly grown in 
the northern districts and on the sloping hillsides. They are 
cut down and cleared off after thirty years' growth, and realise 
at present prices from 18Z. to 20Z. per acre. The stools are 
left to produce another crop, and without any treatment a like 
result is attained at the expiration of the next thirty years, 
subject, of course, to the value of timber for the time being. 
Where Scotch fir, spruce, alder, oak, and birch have been 
judiciously planted on exposed situations on the hillsides, 
a clear income of IO5. or 12s. per acre has been the average 
result. My own experience of the average cost of planting ha 
been the following, viz. : — 
Per Acre. 
£ s. d. 
Clearing the ground of rubbish, briars, &c 0 10 0 
Draining, viz., ojien drains, 30 in. wide at the 
and 6 in. at the bottom 100 
Plants (miscellaneous) and plantiug 6 0 0 
Total .. £7 10 0 
In favourable situations on the sides of the hills, larch of thirty 
years' growth, thinned three times (say, in ten, fifteen, and 
twenty years) with 300 of the best trees remaining, is worth at 
present prices 30Z. per acre ; the thinnings realise from 10/. to 
13/. per acre, and pay for fencing, draining, planting, and 
cleaning the plantations. In the bottom of the glens, whither 
the soils from the adjoining heights gravitate, oak, ash, elm, 
and sycamore develop into large timber trees, if allowed to 
occupy the ground for sixty or seventy years, and yield an 
income of 30s. per acre per annum. 
The demand for timber for the collieries is large and in- 
creasing. The imports to the port of Cardiff alone in 1882 
were 226,175 tons of pit-wood and sleepers, and 71,928 tons 
of deals and deal ends. The local supply is insignificant. 
With such a demand for timber, it seems strange that land- 
owners do not plant more of their mountain land ; its agricul- 
tural value would be doubled, and in many instances trebled. 
The pastoral land would also be greatly enhanced in value 
