Af/riculhire of North Wales. 
557 
the herbage being' short but sweet ; the surrounding upper silurian 
hills which stretch from Llangollen to Corwen are also well 
adapted to the same purpose. I shall have occasion to return to 
this subject hereafter. The extensive band of limestone which 
stretches from Cyrin y Brain to the north part of Flintshire is, 
in the lower or level part, covered with a soil similar to that de- 
scribed as constituting the vale of Wrexham ; as its altitude in- 
creases, the soil becomes thinner, poorer, and approximates in 
quality that which covers the adjacent more lofty silurian hills, 
passing gradually into a scanty stony soil, broken by protruding 
rocks, the herbage plentifully intermixed with gorse, heather, and 
the usual mountain plants, and only adapted for the browsing of 
mountain-sheep. Stretching from west to east, in the Clwydian 
range, are several valleys of considerable fertility ; the soil some- 
what similar, but not equal to that of the vale of Wrexham, and 
frequently intermixed with pebbles ; between the arable land of 
these transverse valleys and the mountain sheep-walks alluded to 
there is generally planted a zone of timber, usually larch, which 
adds much to the scenic beauty, and greatly to the warmth and 
comfort of the vales : an example deserving of more extended 
adoption in other parts of Wales, combining as it does the useful^ 
profitable, and ornamental ; similar remarks apply to the soils 
superimposed on the narrow strip of limestone which bounds the 
western side of the vale of Clwyd, beyond which, to the south- 
west, an extensive tract of upland moor stretches, included in a 
line drawn from the Conway river to Bettws y Coed, then by a 
line nearly due south from Bettws y Coed to Yspetty Evan, from 
which point it takes an eastern direction, crossing the Holyhead 
road close to Cerrig y Druidion, and continues this course to the. 
rise of the Clwyd, which has its source almost at*the junction of 
the great protozoic range and the upper silurian of Denbighshire; 
from the source of the Clwyd the boundary-line turns to the 
southward, and continues in that direction until it meets the Holy- 
head road about 2 miles to the west of Corwen, from which point 
it takes a zig-zag direction to Llansaintfraid on the Ceriog and 
Chirk, the eastern boundary being formed by the disconnected 
limestone hills extending to Cerrig y Brain and Cricor Mawr, to 
the north of which it is formed by the limestone ridge of the 
western border of the vale of Clwyd, and extends as far as the 
Ormslieads and Conway river. The above described tract of 
country forms the upper silurian of Denbighshire ; it is noticed 
in Mr. Davis's report as the Hiraethog range, who alludes to it 
in the following manner : — 
"The latter wing" (the Hiraethog range or western side of 
the valley of the Clwyd, in contradistinction to the eastern side 
or Clwydian range) " commences in the argillaceous hills above 
2 1' 2 
