§30 
veral caufes. In the firft place, to a feries 
of wet and unfavourable weather, which 
fet in almoft as foon as the moft diligent 
among us had got their lands in proper 
condition, and werg beginning to fow ; 
and which has continued with only fhort 
and precarious interruptions till within 
this week or ten days. i 
This fiate of the weather has been ne- 
ceflarily attended with many inconveni- 
ences, perhaps with more than are as yet 
apparent. ‘The ground has been neceffa- 
rily fown with a greater expence in the 
wages of labour, &c. the teams frequently 
being able to work only for bits and par- 
cels of davs, and fometimes compelled to 
return almoft as foon as they had got to 
the fields, which, in this part of the coun- 
try, lie fcattered here and there, as though 
they had been fhufled together, and the 
farms divided, not by vicinity, but by lot. 
The lofs of time and confequent expence 
from thefe interruptions is not to be con- 
ceived by thofe who know not the manners 
and, cuftoms of a country, among the 
working people of which it is a fort of 
rule, that when any accident has put a flop 
to the intended operations of the day, they 
fhould newer, unlefs they are i a mouner 
aciually driven io it, opply themjelves feri- 
cufly to any other bufine/s. The fame piece 
has aifoin many initances been irregularly 
fown with inconvenient intervals; and much 
itisto be feared, whenthe ground was not in 
avery proper ftate toreceive the feed;impati- 
ence of delay, apprehenfion that the feafon 
fhould be toe far advanced, and the necef- 
fity arifing from the want of fodder, hav- 
ing goaded the farmer and prevented the 
confultation of a better judgment. 
This laft circumftance has been a very 
great impediment to the funétions of huf- 
bandry during the prefent fpring. The 
fcantinefs and miferable getting-in of the 
Jaft harveft, is not only felt in the prefent 
enormous price of grain. It will inevita- 
bly continue to be feit for feveral years in 
every thing conneéted with the produce of 
our farms. It will be felt, inevitably felt, 
even in the quantity of the preduce of the 
next harveft. It will be felt from the bad 
quality of the feed, that in too many in- 
ftances has been returned into the ground 
—it will be felt from the {paring hand with 
which the feed itfelf in fome others has 
been fown ; and, from the ftill more dif- 
_trefling circumftance, of many fields def- 
tined tor barley in the occupztion of little 
farmers actually remaining unfown (if I 
am correéily informed, for I confeis I 
know of no inflance of this kind in this 
immediate neighbourhood) ; the landlord, 
View of the State of 
[ July I, 
the tax-gatherer, and the importunate 
hunger of their own families having con- 
fumed their fcanty ftock to the laf grain 
before the feed-time could come round : 
and even where the diftrefs has not been 
fo complete and abfolute, fimilar effeéts 
have taken place from the weaknefs of the 
teams, which, by reafon of the want of 
fodder in the winter, are incapable of per- 
forming the neceflary labours of the fpring. 
Indeed I believe there are not many far- 
mers throughout this whole diftri€& who 
have not been obliged to perform fome 
parts of their bufinefs in a more flovenly 
manner than ufual (though flovenlynefs is 
ufual enough with us, £ affure you) andto 
leave others actually unperformed on this 
account. Some, indeed, have been obli- 
ged to appeal to very expenfive {ubftitutes, 
or ftill more ruinous delays. Onone farm 
in particular in this neighbourhood, that 
keeps two teams, one of fix horfes, and 
the other of as many oxen, they are both 
fo weak, and the farm fo deftitute of fod- 
der, that they have been obliged to poft- 
pone their fowing till the grafs is grown 
fufficiently for them to get into heart again. 
Had this happened to have been a back- 
ward {pring, they. could never, at this rate, 
have fown a fingle grain. On the farm in 
queftion, they might, in fome degree, have 
remedied the evil, far they had avery large 
piece of very good clover; but (to give 
you a fine {fpecimen of the management 
and calculation of our Welth farmers) they 
turned their fows upon it as foon as it 
began to {prout, who accordingly cropped 
and trampled every leaf as it arofe, fo that 
the horfes muft wait for what the cows. 
ought to have, and the cows mutt ftarve 
till midfummer. One piece indeed upon this 
farm they have contrived to get once 
ploughed; but their teams were afterwards 
incapable to harrow it—otherwife (for one 
ploughing will do for a Welfh farmer) it 
might have been harrowed and fown in one 
day ; inftead of which, five perfons were 
employed for at leafta fortnight in break- 
ing the clods with kibes ; and it is ftill un- 
fown. Now labour, I confefs, is cheap 
enouch of all conicience with us,—8d. a 
day with diet, or 1s. 2d. without. But all 
thefe people are boarded in the houfe ; and 
I know- by experience, (notwithftanding 
the romantic notions people on your fide 
the’ Severn entertain of the cheapnefs of 
living in Wales, and which may be appli- 
cable enough to fome of the wild parts of 
Cardiganfhire, &c. where nothing is to be 
had to live upon), that if I eftimate wages 
and maintenance at 20d. per day each, I 
fhall be under the mark. Confequently it 
has 
