314 Report on the Farm-Prize Competition o/"1872. 
divisions of these two counties seem to rest on various lime- 
stone deposits. The southern and western districts of Glamor- 
ganshire overlie the coal-measures ; while some dr}', fruitful, and 
easily cultivated soils are also furnished by the new red sandstone, 
red marl, and carboniferous limestone. None of these geological 
features, except perhaps the coal-measures, indicate very bad land ; 
in fact, if we exclude a poor and exposed farm in Cardiganshire, 
Ave did not meet with any very poor soil under cultivation. 
The nineteen farms we had the privilege of inspecting have 
a proportion of grass land varying from one-fourth to one-half, 
and sometimes even reaching two-thirds, of the entire holding. 
One competitor certainly said that he had not an acre of old 
grass land in hand ; but this is quite an isolated case, most 
of the farmers being able to summer-graze, and to keep until 
fattened, all the cattle they breed. 
Besides the permanent grass fields which commonly surround 
the homesteads, and which, from their very position, must of 
necessity be kept productive, and in clean condition, most of the 
farmers have in occupation considerable tracts of what they 
term rough "cattle ground," or marsh land, fringing the coast, 
and evidently reclaimed at some remote period from the Severn 
or the Bristol Channel. These pastures are frequently scattered, 
and at a considerable distance from the main farm ; but they 
form an excellent run for the young cattle, the drier and better 
descriptions readily fattening bullocks and barren cows or 
heifers. Being, as may be inferred, on a low level, to attempt 
underground drainage would, in most cases, be a waste of money. 
The surplus water is therefore got rid of by means of open 
ditches, 15 to 20 or 25 yards apart, running into wide trenches 
or mains, these last being made to serve as divisions between 
the several enclosures. These damp pastures producing, as 
they do, an abundance of rather coarse herbage, doubtless 
answer well in dry seasons, such as we have experienced of late 
years ; but in a wet summer the quality of the grass is seriously 
deteriorated. Moreover, the animals suffer alike from exposure 
to the keen cold winds of spring and autumn, and from the 
scorching heat of a July sun ; and we would suggest the erection 
of cheap wooden sheds just above the flood-line. The most 
inferior of these marshes, however, are a valuable addition to any 
farm, though they might be, and in not a few cases have been, 
vastly improved by an occasional dressing of bone-dust, lime, or 
compost. When thus treated, they can be advantageously mown 
for hay ; but, while the acreable yield may be heavy, the quality 
cannot compare with ca crop containing the better class of rich 
meadow grasses. 
The arable farming in Monmouthshire, and in the lower dis- 
