Agriculture, etc.,

A volume containing miscellaneous notes, observations, extracts from printed sources, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'), the contents, with the exception of a few literary and other items, relating almost entirely to agriculture, horticulture, botany, rural economy, and associated topics. The contents of pp. 1-252, pagination in brackets, include, inter alia, notes on the following topics, viz. sowing of haws to produce shrubs (22-5), methods of constructing hedges in Glamorgan and the various trees and shrubs which could be used for this purpose (25-31), potato planting (31), fruits in Glamorgan orchards (32-3), mazard cherry trees, chestnut trees, and wild apples (34), ancient lime quarries and marl pits on Pentrebain farm [co. Glamorgan] and the use of lime and marl as manure (35-41), and inclosing, ? in co. Glamorgan, by means of hedges and the consequent 'stair' or 'terrace' pattern to be found on 'rising grounds or uplands of easy ascent' (41-3); examples of varying courses or rotations of crops in relation to varying types of lands with notes on manuring, dressing of soil, etc., the courses being grouped as 'Old Vale Courses' and 'Gower Courses' and all presumably being related to conditions in co. Glamorgan (45-81); a note on references to types of yokes used in Wales (82); miscellaneous notes (83-8); a note on the planting of 'slips and cuttings of apple trees' in Devon and ? the Vale of Glamorgan (88-9); comments on the use of small coal-or coal slack by a Mr. Crawshay as a fertiliser (90-93); a brief comment on dissenting meeting houses in co. Glamorgan and a list of '[Glamorgan] Churches in the Mountains' (93-4); agricultural miscellanea (95-100); notes on mazard cherry trees and on the medicinal uses of salt (100-01); a list of three 'Norfolk course[s] adopted by some in Glam[organ]' (102); agricultural miscellanea (117-22); notes on 'Fish in Daw River', 'Sea fish at Aberthaw', and 'Lakes [in Glamorgan] affording fish' (122-5); a section headed 'Abstract view of Glamorgan' containing brief general observations on the soil, crops, geology, fish (in rivers and the Severn sea), landscape, seashore, appearance of villages and cottages, roads, bridges, the need for monthly markets, etc., in the county (126-31); a note on the construction of board fences for the cultivation of fruit (132); notes on references in written sources (all pre-1600) to the following in connection with Glamorgan-the existence or non-existence of inclosures, the existence of orchards and apple trees, the activities of Sir Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, late 13th cent., in building two thousand cottages for the poor, his further activities in building village houses the upper appartments of which consisted of halls previously used for holding courts, markets, dances, etc., and then, ? in the late 18th cent., for keeping school, holding dances, meetings of benefit societies, Methodist meetings, etc., and William Herbert (Earl of Pembroke)'s action, temp. Henry VIII, in sending to France and Flanders for fruit and vegetables to restock gardens and orchards-the writers referred to including Dafydd ap Gwilym, [John] Leland, Rhys Meyrig, Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal, and Rhys Brydydd, and the unnamed author of 'a Ms. History in Welsh of the Lords Marchers of Glam[organ]' allegedly written in the time of Queen Mary (133-8); a list of twelve points of advantage afforded by mountainous as opposed to flat country (140-42); notes re the pruning of trees (143); notes re the saddling of cows as well as oxen to carry manure and the yoking of cows, oxen, and horses for the plough with three illustrations relating to horse yokes (144-6); comments on the possible use of coal or coal slack for manuring, experimentation in manuring, the nature of peat or bog, composts of coal or peat with lime or lime and ashes, etc. (148-55); notes relating to [rural] poverty, parish relief, and the system of parish work-houses, new proposals for a system of communal parish houses of industry 'adapted to the vale of Glamorgan or any other place where the inhabitants live in villages rather than in detached farmhouses', suggestions re free education for the children of cottagers who did not seek parish assistance in schools set up for three or four parishes and having a schoolmaster paid thirty pounds a year, proposals for holding harvest dinners, vestry meetings, and parochial markets in the hall of the parochial house of industry, and suggestions as to general principles to be observed in awarding parochial assistance which should be 'a reward in some degree at least for something meritorious' (160-75); (continued)
Brief agricultural, botanical, etc., notes headed 'Excursion to Merthyr Tidvil, May 6th 1813' (205); brief agricultural and other observations relating to certain mountains in co. Glamorgan, with a brief reference to the cessation of the iron trade in Merthyr, Aberdare, and Tredegar (206); notes relating to the nature of ? mountain soils in Glamorgan and to the manuring and dressing of soils (209-12); notes relating to crop husbandry headed 'Norfolk soils and husbandry' (213-18); and agricultural and botanical data and comments including extracts from, or notes based upon sections of, [Arthur] Young [: The Farmer's] Calendar, [Benjamin] Stillingfleet [:The] Calendar of Flora, etc. (225-45). P. 253 is inscribed 'Contents of the Agricultural Survey of the County of Glamorgan by Edward Williams 1796' and is followed on pp. 255-76 by a list of some fifty-six subject or chapter headings such as 'Geography of the County in General', 'Coal and Iron Tract', 'Metals', 'Sea Coast and Harbours . . .', 'Agricultural Produce', 'Farm Buildings', 'Implements', 'Population . . .', 'Manufactures and Trades', etc., these presumably being the main divisions of the survey referred to on p. 253. Some of these headings are accompanied by a list of the titles of sub-sections of the main heading, these in some instances amounting to over twenty in number. P. 254 contains a list of the titles of nine appendices which, presumably, were to be added to the survey. The contents of pp. 277-307 again relate mainly to agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and botany, and include extracts from, or notes based on sections of, The Transactions of the London Society for the encouragement of Arts . . ., 1798, Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, vol. V, [William] Marshall: [The] Rural Economy of the West of England, [John] Boys: [General] View of the Agriculture of the County of Kent, and [William Beeston] Coyte: Hortus Botanicus Gippovicensis. Pp. 308-24 contain material of a literary nature including transcripts of the eighteen-stanza poem entitled 'The Exile' from [Matthew Gregory] Lewis's novel The Monk, and of sonnets, etc., from Charles Lloyd: Poems on the death of Priscilla Farmer, [Mary] Robinson: Sappho and Phaon, and Brooke Boothby: Sorrows. Sacred to the Memory of Penelope, notices of books published circa 1795-1797, and brief extracts from, or brief notes on reviews of, some of these works. From p. 325 to p. 412 the contents again relate mainly to agriculture, horticulture, rural economy, and associated topics, and consist largely of extracts from, or notes based on sections of, [William] Marshall: The Rural Economy of the Midland Counties (325-?45), [John] Billingsley [: General View of the Agriculture of the County of] Somerset (353-68), [John] Clark [: General View of the Agriculture of the County of Brecknock] (369-71), and [Arthur] Young: Tour in Wales from the Annals of Agriculture, vol. 8 (385-400, with interpolations by E[dward] W[illiams]). P. 413 is headed 'Mehefin 23. Treigl o Aberhonddi hyd Drecastell' and pp.413-28 contain notes and observations in Welsh on agriculture, forestry, etc., appertaining to the area [of co. Brecknock] specified in the heading to p. 413 and also of more general relevance. Pp. 429-64 contain a brief note on the marketing of Glamorgan cattle (429); an extract from [Arthur] Young: Annals of Agriculture, vol. 32 relating to an experiment in ploughing with three different breeds of oxen, a note by E[dward] Williams on the same three breeds of oxen, and a note relating to long-legged cattle and attempts to change characteristics by cross-breeding (429-32); notes headed 'Dairy and tillage farm in Gower' (433-5); a course of crops for light soils (435); a note on Eglwysilan [co. Glamorgan] downs sheep and a wool 'manufactory' established at Caerphilly (436); a brief note re Dorsetshire sheep (436); historical notes based upon the recollections of John Spencer of Sarce [co . ], born circa 1710, relating to the introduction of clover, trefoil, rye-grass, and turnips [into Glamorgan] and to certain liming practices in the said county (437-8); a historical note, again originating from a John Spencer, relating to Aberthaw harbour [co. Glamorgan] (439); geological notes relating to petrification in white limestone, rag or grey lias, coal mines, ironstone veins, flag lias, etc., ? in co. Glamorgan (445-7); further historical notes based partly if not entirely upon the recollections of Mr. Spencer of Sarce aforesaid, ob. 1802 aged 88, relating to the introduction of clover, trefoil, rye-grass, and turnips, and of a new system of liming into Glamorgan, and to cropping and liming practices in that county (451-4 + 456); an extract from [Nathaniel] Kent: [General] View of the Agriculture of [the County of] Norfolk concerning cropping courses (455); and a further historical note, again based on information from John Spencer, relating to the aforementioned port of Aberthaw and its trade (457-8).

Title based on contents.

Formerly known as Llanover C. 60.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13147A.

The description is also available in the Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IV (Aberystwyth, 1971).

Published