more puzzling. In the upper chamber are clear representations of Adam and Eve; while in the lower is a series of large figures which can hardly be other than the Apostles, among whom a portrait of S. Peter (the earliest we have) seems to be recognisable with a reasonable degree of certainty. Above them, however, is a remarkable series of scenes, in which while the Sermon on the Mount may be clearly recognised, the other representations have hitherto baffled attempts at interpretation. Wilpert maintains that they are Gnostic, but eclectic, while an even later theory is that they are Montanist; and it is perhaps not impossible that there was a certain amount of intentional camouflage, so that their Christian character might not be perceived by pagan visitors to the tomb, which was by no means concealed from view, as it was a structure of two or three stories. Another remarkable building of a still later period, which has come to light on the Via Salaria, seems to lie on the borderland between the Pagan and Christian periods-a baptistery, as it seems, with paintings which are still inspired by pagan mythology; and not far off have been found the Catacombs of Pamphilus, containing a large number of niches which have hitherto not been violated, and still have the small objects-coins, statuettes, glass vessels, and so forth-by which those who were too poor to afford an inscribed slab designated the last resting-place of the members of their family. The interesting discoveries under S. Sebastiano on the Via Appia have already been described in the 'Quarterly Review,' and therefore need not be dealt with further here. There are many other points upon which we might touch; but this cannot aspire to be a complete survey of all that has been done; and if we turn to the neighbourhood of Rome, we shall find equally remarkable progress to record. Here, too, it is, naturally, impossible to deal with all the sites where interesting discoveries have been made; but in a succeeding article I hope to do something about a few of the more important. THOMAS ASHBY. (To be continued.) * October 1925: H. Stuart Jones, The Apostles in Rome,' and especially pp. 400 sqq. Art. 8.-AGRICULTURE IN WALES: THE LESSON FOR ENGLISH FARMERS. If we turn to the latest statistics of production in England and Wales we shall find that, while the corn area is steadily declining in England, it has become a comparatively negligible quantity throughout the Principality of Wales. So far as wheat is concerned, it may be doubted whether in 1928 20,000 acres will be returned under this important crop; the barley area may be twice as much, while oats, being in demand on the farm, are grown largely for home consumption; but less than 15 per cent. of the cultivable area of Wales is under corn, and the most of this is merely planted because of the system of temporary grasses. The Welsh farmer plants a grass ley to stand for any period from five to ten years, then, when it is run out, he proceeds to take advantage of the stored nitrogen by planting one or possibly two white straw crops in succession, followed by roots and then barley, if the land should permit, with clovers sown at the same time, so that when the barley crop is harvested the clovers have taken their hold. Other grasses are added and the ley is fully established once more. It will be seen from this that corn is planted chiefly for its passing economic advantage and not because it is held to compete with the grass. In short, the Welsh farmer is a herdsman and dairyman, and in so far as the English farmer appears to be moving away from arable cultivation, the practice and experience of the Principality are worth serious consideration. Outside the area of the favoured watering-places and beauty spots, Wales is not a country that is explored to any considerable extent by English visitors. To the wild places of Cardigan, Merioneth, Montgomery, and Radnor few visitors come; you may travel for many miles and many days and encounter only Welshmen in pursuit of their lawful occasions. The Farm Schools, admirably conducted and doing useful work, are situated somewhere as 'far off the earth' as is geographically possible, and altogether Wales seems to be remote and inaccessible, though it would be hard to find in the course of travel a more kindly, hospitable people or one more friendly to strangers whose interest in their concerns is after all, in some measure, an intrusion. Certainly the position in Wales is the more significant because of the prairie tendency of England. Everywhere we find on the English farm an increasing area laid down to grass, an increasing reliance upon milk and meat. One of the most powerful financial combinations in the history of agriculture is working to develop grass cultivation along defined lines, and the effect of its teaching is felt far and wide. While there is little or no encouragement for the arable farmer, while experts frankly incite him to forsake his traditional practice, dairying and the intensive production of mutton and beef occupy the attention of the country's agricultural advisers. Now, in these circumstances Wales must have much to teach us, because it relies almost entirely upon those acts of husbandry which are coming into favour over its border. The chief difference is that in Wales we have mountain and hill sheep farming, while in England we have more valleys and a richer pasture, but in a very few years it is probable that even the hill grazings of the Principality will vie with our own, because the work of the Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth, to which some reference will be made later, is full of vital significance for the future of stock raising. Pedigree grasses that will thrive on hillsides now bare may be said to be in sight. Wales is essentially an agricultural country outside the region of the coal measures, and though these are important in quality their relation to the whole area of the Principality is comparatively negligible. The majority of the Welsh counties are purely agricultural, and the men who live in them are, for the most part, without alternative occupations. They are faced with long, severe winters and excessive rainfall, a lack of adequate marketing facilities, a railway service that is less than adequate; but in spite of these difficulties they contrive to carry It is worth noting how this is done and why hard times fail to breed discontent. on. In the first place Wales is a smallholders' country, though one must not restrict the term to the special significance given by the Ministry of Agriculture which limits it to farms of no more than fifty acres. The average Welsh farm is round about 100 acres, less rather than more, eighty perhaps is a fairly representative figure, and on a farm of this size you find a man, his wife, and their children working steadily from the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, for seven days a week throughout the year. Husband and lads do the hard work, the ploughing up of leys, the harvesting and carrying of the scanty crops, the feeding of the stock; wife and daughters look after the dairy, do the cooking, attend to the bouse, keep the poultry, and take on any emergency job that is regarded as being within their province. The farmer pays no wages to his children, he gives the boys just enough pocket money to keep them at home and the girls sufficient to supply them with the necessities of dress. Amusements, outside the restricted area of the Women's Institutes and Village Clubs, are limited to the Eisteddfod and those literary meetings, sometimes competitive, which do so much to help the remote rural districts during the winter months. Transport is only just coming with the motor bus and may work great changes, but down to the present, distractions have been all to seek. There is no reason why the farmer's family should do anything but work, and, as the result of unending labour, he has been able despite bad seasons to pay his rent, feed and dress the wife and childrenand provide cattle dealer and higgler with a good living. One finds that the inaccessible places are being brought into touch with life through the medium of the motor bus; in the next few years intercourse with the world outside may promote discontent, because the farmer's children lead a very hard life, and when he dies and his little property comes to be divided among them, the return is trifling and inadequate. In other words, the children work as hard as the labourer but without the advantage that the Agricultural Wages Board has conferred, and it is extremely unlikely that the average farmer of eighty acres can leave enough to make up for the privations that have been accepted by his offspring. On the larger holdings in Wales, say from 100 acres and upward, the position is rather different. It should be remarked in this connexion that there are very few large farms in the Principality, the latest returns showing less than 400, but on farms of 100 up to 300 acres, and there are in all about 7500 of these, the living-in system prevails. The farmer engages unmarried men at the hiring fairs for periods of a year, and they live on the premises. They have their meals with the family, sleep in the house, or if there should be insufficient accommodation, over the stables or cowhouse, and the 15s. deducted from their weekly wage is as good an investment as they could hope to make. The home association has the further benefit of fostering a good understanding between master and men; one hears that on many of the places where living-in is practised the men are not too particular about hours, but are always ready to do a little extra work in seasons of emergency, while, on the other hand, the farmer will see that they have the advantage of slack times, and that, on the whole, he does not exceed the hours that he pays for. In the old days this living-in system was so firmly established that unmarried men looked to it as part of their experience, but of late certain difficulties have arisen and the popularity of the practice is waning. The reason is simple enough. The housewife who must cater for part of the staff finds that she can get little or no assistance from the countryside; the girls who were accustomed to look to domestic service for their means of livelihood are now turning to the towns, the shops, or the factories; they will not, if they can help themselves, endure the restraints of a hard-working life on a remote homestead. Consequently, the farmer's wife and her daughters must do the cooking and house-work for the unmarried assistants who live in, and as the women of the house have their share of the farming duties as well, they are finding the strain too much, and in several counties that the writer visited he was assured that the practice is tending to die out. Another contributory factor is a different spirit in the rising generation, probably one of the results of the Great War. In the old days the farmer in comfortable circumstances could have two tables in his kitchen, one for himself and his family and the other for his dependents, and he could establish certain scales of dietary that emphasised what he regarded as a reasonable distinction between the employer and the employed. To-day that is im |