Agriculture of North Wales. 
565 
gradually undermined by the action of moisture and the atmos- 
phere, detach themselves from the main rock, and form boulder- 
stones so frequently found along the coast of the Menai. In other 
cases large intervals have been swept avi^ay from similar causes, 
leaving projecting pieces of quartzose rock in the fields. The 
circumjacent soil being of excellent quality, these often repeated 
obstructions have not prevented the husbandman from the use of 
the plough. About three miles from the bridge are the coal- 
measures, several pits of which are worked in the centre of the 
marsh, which extends from Newburgh, in the south-west, to the 
centre of the island. The coal-measures extend as far as the sea 
on the north-east. Some attempts have been made to reclaim 
this extensive marsh, which is composed of the stiffest clay soil 
which I witnessed throughout North Wales, and under judicious 
management would form one of the richest grazing-grounds in 
the kingdom. The abundance of stock feeding thereon, and in 
good condition, notwithstanding more than three-fourths of the 
surface was covered with rushes, amply testified to its natural 
capabilities ; and I have no hesitation in declaring that with 
proper care and management it might be made to rival the cele- 
brated Lincolnshire salt-marshes. To the west of the marsh the 
limestone formation crops out, forming a gentle undulating 
country that covers a moderate extent of the island, having a 
tolerably deep fertile turnip soil in the hollows, which gradually 
thins out, and becomes much intermixed with gravel and stones 
towards the tops of the hills. A considerable portion of the 
southern coast is sandy. The northern part of the island pos- 
sesses some good pasture-hills, but very bleak — some of the pas- 
tures, especially in the neighbourhood of Amlwch, being deterio- 
rated, and in places entirely destroyed, by the adjacent copper- 
works. From Mona, near the centre of the island, to Holyhead, 
the general character of the country is that of a second-rate 
grazing district, adapted to rearing and maintaining store cattle, 
much intermixed with projecting rocks and stones; the soil thin, 
composed of vegetable matter intermixed with a loose brown or 
ochreous coloured rubble ; the country bleak from the absence of 
timber; the formations of peat not plentiful, and rendered valuable 
by the scarcity of fuel. There are a few large farms in the 
island, Avith excellent modern-built homesteads and offices, on 
which the course of cropping is superior to that seen in general 
throughout North Wales, even on the best farms. That part 
of Anglesea adjoining the Menai Straits, from its verdant appear- 
ance (and the same may be said of the opposite or Caernarvon 
side), may compete with the most beautiful portions of the sister 
kingdom for the title of "the Emerald Isle" being applied to it. 
In no place throughout the United Kingdom did I ever witness 
herbage of so beautiful an appearance. 
