of these improvements are already carried out on some good farms, and most of the suggestions apply with especial force to the cornland of the country."

The above remarks were written sixteen years ago, let us now inquire what has been done in the interval. On many large estates the farm buildings have been much improved, but in none to the same extent as in that of Mr. Langstone (now Earl Ducie), where the most substantial and excellent farmhouses and buildings have been erected on almost every part of the property. In many instances on this estate, also, excellent fixed steam-engines and barn machinery have been put up under the able superintendence of Mr. Savidge, the late manager of all Mr. Langstone's farming operations. Much, however, remains to be done upon some estates in the way of improvement to farm buildings. In too many cases there is a great want of cattle-accommodation, and the consequence is that straw is, as a rule, not made into good manure. The straw stacks are too frequently left standing about the farm and when brought home the straw is thrown into open yards and rotted by rain, instead of being trodden into real good manure by cake-eating animals. The defect in the horses, noticed by Mr. Read, still exists to a great extent throughout the prizefarm district. With a few exceptions, a really good yard of horses was not to be seen, and in too many instances the horses may be described as being very inferior, undersized, and weak animals, badly fed and badly managed. Three horses are generally employed where two would suffice, and the system is therefore in the end really an expensive one.

I turn with pleasure to a more agreeable topic, the improvement in the growth of green and root crops, and in the management of sheep. In no part of England have greater improvements been made in these respects than in Oxfordshire and the adjoining counties.

The Oxfordshire Downs are rapidly growing into importance as one of our national breeds. They have been well described as rent-paying sheep. I believe them to be so, and that their general management is probably in many respects superior to what it is in other districts of the kingdom.

The labour question in Oxfordshire and in other counties is now obtaining more attention than heretofore. Better cottages have been erected, and in many respects the condition of the agricultural labourer has been much improved during the last twenty years. Some further improvement, however, might be made in the system of employment. As a rule, there is not much piecework in Oxfordshire; the labourers are too often seen working together by the day in large parties at low moneywages, a certain quantity of beer being given almost all the year round. I believe this to be a bad and also an expensive system.

Money payment, piecework, and the allotment, as much as possible, of work to each man, is the true secret of getting work well and cheaply done, and of producing a thrifty and contented set of labourers.

In conclusion, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, I must express our sense of the great kindness and hospitality which we experienced on both occasions of our visits of inspection, and I shall long remember the pleasant days we spent, and some of the instructive lessons which I learnt, in the Oxford PrizeFarm district in the year 1870.

Bridgnorth, August 1st., 1870.

H. W. KEARY.

We subscribe to the foregoing descriptions of competing farms.

T. GIBBONS.
W. TORR.

XIV.-The Farming of Monmouthshire. By W. FOTHERGILL. MONMOUTHSHIRE, though now an English county, partakes so much of both England and Wales, that it may justly be considered the link between them, as it unites their language, their manners, and their customs. Even as far as the principal town of Monmouth, which is situated in the interior of the county, houses and lands are still known by their ancient Celtic names; and the traveller will find many persons who, although dwelling by the fruitful banks of the Monnow, still delight to converse in the vernacular, whilst the all-conquering English tongue has penetrated to the very heart of the mountain region; and even on the Bedwas and the Bedwellty heights it is now difficult to find one who can truthfully say "Dim Saesonog "-no English-when addressed by an Englishman.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The county is about 28 miles at its greatest length, which is from the Black Mountains on the north to the river Rhymney on the south; and its greatest breadth, from the Rhymney Iron Works on the west to Hadnock Wood on the east, is about 34 miles. The circumference may be taken at 130 miles, containing an area of about 496 square miles, or something more than 317,440 acres, divided into 125 parishes.

With the exception of about 70,000 acres on the coast line, 20 miles in length from the Wye to the Rhymney, and in the valleys of the rivers, the county is generally hilly and rugged; indeed, a full fourth of its extent may be taken as mountain, with an elevation of nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea; and this

portion, spoken of in ancient writings as the "Wilds of Monmouthshire," may be truly described as all hill and dale, well watered and wooded, and comparatively productive.

A long chain of hills from Bedwellty Mountains runs in an almost unbroken line to the Curtain Mountain of Machen. On the east of this we have the Mynyddysllwyn Mountain, and a second and third range of hills, 1815 feet high, running east and west of the river Ebbw; whilst Twynffynmonmaison, on the west of Blaenavon, rises to the height of 1980 feet above the level of the sea.

At Abergavenny are the Blorenge, the Skirrid, and the Sugar Loaf Mountains, 1954 feet high. A portion of the Black Mountain range, and the exceedingly wild bold ridges of the elevations of Aberystwith and Llanhilleth, are to the north and west of Pontypool. The Graig forms the principal height of Skenfrith on the north; and Machen, Tynbarllwyn, and the far-famed Wyndcliffe, are the principal eminences in the south.

In contrast to these elevations-the principal of which only are named-are the narrow valleys running between the higher ranges of mountains, and the large broad tracts of the Wentlloog and Caldicot levels, lying even below the flood-level of the sea, and protected from its encroachments by walls and embankments of many miles in extent, which will be more particularly described hereafter.

The total acreage of the county, being 317,440 acres, may be divided geologically as follows:

The Boulders and Alluvium (a), are probably under the

(c) New Red Sandstone; alternate) beds of stone, marl, and limestone

..

(b) Lias clay, clayey loam, and

limestone

Boulders, pebbles, gravel

Chep

actual acreage, as the deposits of the valleys in all the districts are not known and noted.

(g) Devonian Soils.-The rocks, when fragmentary, as on the escarpments of the hills, and when not denuded to a very great extent, crumble down to a deep rich loam, which is generally fertile and favourable to the growth of trees, especially the oak and the apple.

The siliceous gravel, where it abounds, gives the soil a friable character, well suited for roots and barley; whilst on the clay a strong wheat-soil is formed, and is found to be especially productive where a porous and rubbly soil accompanies it.

In the neighbourhood of Chepstow and round the boundaries of the Coal-basin, lime is found in considerable quantities, and great advantages are reaped from its liberal application to the land upon the sandstone soils. When, however, the character of the soil becomes slaty or shaly, as in the neighbourhood of Wentwood and other places in the vicinity, it appears to be best adapted for woodland or depasturing. Here indeed we see, as in so many districts of England, that the application of clays and marls, when easily transferable, produces remarkable and beneficial results.

The red lands in the valley, more especially south-east of Wentwood and New Church, protected as they are by the hills and woods, are generally of a highly ferruginous warm character, of superior fertility, excellent in mineral character, and for the most part of good texture.

(f) Mountain-limestone. This formation, when occurring at high elevations, is admirably adapted (producing as it does sweet and good pasture) for carrying the native sheep and cattle. In lower localities it is favourable for roots and barley. Its escarpments, ravines, and ridges, are well adapted for the growth of woods, whilst the easily made lime from the upper beds affords a cheap and excellent manure.

(e) Millstone-grit.—This formation appears adapted for sheepwalks only.

(d) Coal-measures.-The various seams of coal and iron in Monmouthshire crop out along the northern boundary of the county, turning round by Pontypool, Risca, Caerphilly, Llantrissant, and on towards Swansea. They repose upon the limestone, under which is the red sandstone; the minerals on the northern part of the basin crop out at a less angle than they do on the south, hence the reason why Iron Works have been established at the head of every valley running north, as the minerals are from this fact worked at a less cost than on the southern edge of the basin, where they crop out at a greater inclination.