Agriculture of North Wales. 
581 
served that the cattle on it were more uniformly of a black colour 
than other parts of Wales : ihs same remark applies also to the 
part of Caernarvon on the opposite side of tiie Menai. Mr. 
Davies, in his report, says that Anglesea at the time of his re- 
port exported 8000 head of cattle, including yearling:, two, and 
three year olds. Mr. Culloch says that in 1810 it was 5500. 
1 be sheep are much larger than in other parts of Wales, but I 
attribute this at the present time to the fact of the indigenous 
sheep having been extensivelv crossed with the Leicester: the 
inhabitants state that only few specimens of the true breed now 
exist. A very important item in the agricultural statistics of 
Anglesea and that part of Caernarvonshire bordering on the Menai 
Straits is the quantity of pigs that are reared and fattened, up- 
wards of 20,010 being annually forwarded to Liverpool, shipped 
from the Menai Bridge ; thev average from '2h to 3 cwt. each : the 
fattening of pigs is one great cause of the potato culture having 
spread so much more in these districts that in other parts of 
North Wales. The pigs throughout North Wales are generally 
of a superior description ; some that are bred by Lord jNIostyn 
and Mr. Dawson, of Gronant, may challenge the ennpire for 
combining all the various excellent qualities of the porcine race : 
towards the south-west the large flop-eared ungainly breed some- 
times prevail, but these are the exception to the general rule of 
the country. The farms througbf^ut North Wales are generally 
of small extent, most of them being under ICQ acres of arable 
and pasture land ; they may be stated to usually run from 40 to 
150 acres, often with a run of mountain pasture, as previously 
noticed. 
Of the improvements which have been made in the farming of 
Nor.h Wales since the report of the Rev. Mr. Davies, in the 
year 1810, it is difficult for the writer to form an estimate, as it 
is quite evident that Mr. Davies's report is drawn up from ob- 
servations made over a period extending from 1 795 to the year in 
which the report was published. At page 274 he shows that 
enclosure acts were obtained for 93.000 acres up to 1809, which 
were either completed or in a progressive state; it must, how- 
ever, be borne in mind that enclosed is here meant, not culti- 
vated. The high prices obtained for all descriptions of agricul- 
tural produce, up to the year 1815, being a great encouragement 
to the cultivation of inferior soils, doubtless a great quantity 
was so cultivated, and subsequently allowed to return to its former 
state ; the aspect at the present day of several of the places 
named as having obtained enclosure acts by Mr. Davies, has been 
sufficient evidence to me that such has been the case; the last 
quoted letter is further confirmatory of the circumstance : in 
several other places, where enclosure acts are mentioned as having 
