THE ESTATES GAZETTE,
| way, having a pointed arch, with a groove for a portcullis. The area, of considerable extent, is surrounded by straight walls, flanked with round and square towers, destitute of windows, but having occasional narrow apertures. Within are the keep, a square tower, and several apartments, one of which appears to have been the baronial hall, l and measures 48ft. long by 24ft. broad.
In the vicinity of Usk are several ancient encampments : indeed, this may be called a castellated district. Almost every two or three miles exhibits vestiges of hostile positions, and indelible marks appear of sanguinary footsteps, and heroes slain.
The second day s sale will also include the freehold sporting estate, known as Monkswood, including the Manor of Pelleny, with presentation to the living of Monkswood. The estate lies in a ring fence, comprising the entire parish of Monkswood, with lands in the parishes of Glascoed, Goitre and Mamhilad, let in five very productive farms, ranging from 90 to 825 acres respectively, to substantial tenants of long standing at rents far below the value of the land. There are beautiful hanging woods, possessing exceptional facilities for preserving and holding game, in which are choice sites for the erection of a residence. Besides the excellent shooting, there is a' mile and three-quarters of salmon fishing in the far-famed rod-river Usk, and two miles of trout fishing in the Berthin Brook, which bound it north and south. There are also the Bhadyr Farm, and Baldwin’s, forming, with the two Castle Farms, a compact sporting property, containing 466 acres, adjoining the station and town of Usk together with a delightful site for a residence, with 150 acres, which could be most advantageously attached to Monkswood with the Bhadyr Farm.
On the first day (Wednesday) will be offered the Oak Farm, and two others, one being a game preserve with lovely site for residence. Also 58 small holdings, comprising cottages with buildings, and grass land of from one to 20 acres, and parcels of arable, and grass land, with and without buildings, many cottage holdings and small farms, all let at low rents to tenants, some of three and four generations. These furnish excellent sites for building, all having good road frontages, and °being within two miles of the Usk Station.
The particulars of (sale for the last day (Friday) comprise Maesmawr and Upper House Farms, accommodation holdings of rich grass lands, together with numerous small holdings, with comfortable dwellings, farm buildings, and land attached, varying from one to 80 acres, well served with roads, and conveniently lotted for market gardening and small culture, and situate on Glascoed-common, in the parishes of Usk and Lianbadock; also accommodation or building land on the road from Panteg to Little Mill.
The Marquis of Worcester’s Monmouthshire Estates.
NE of the mcst important sales announced for the current season is that to be held by Messrs. Driver and Co., of 23, Pall Mall, London, S.W., at the Town Hall, Usk, on Wednesday next, May 10, and two following days.
״ , ,	, , Tile ProPeHy to be offered forms a portion of the Monmouthshire
Estates of the Marquis of Worcester (now Duke of Beaufort), and comprises a total area of nearly 2,500 acres.
The most interesting portion of the estate is that to be offered on the second dav comprising the ruins of Usk Castle, with the Castle house and grounds occupied by General Sir Charles Barnard, K.C.B., the Bomford Orchard on the Castle slope, several charming building sites on the Upper Raglan and Lianbadock roads, overlooking the River Usk, and backed by hanging woods, rich meadows in the valley of the Usk together with the Usk Town Hall and Market Tolls.	’
The interesting and charming residence, known as the Castle House is built over the massive groined archway, formerly the entrance to the romantic and historic Usk Castle, around which so many regal and warlike memories cling. The house itself is well placed above the valley, commands extensive views, and is surrounded by pleasing terraced garden and pleasure grounds. It is solidly built of stone, with a partly-tiled, and partly-slated roof.
Its proximity to the ruins of the famous Castle is not the least of its many attractive features. The ruins are well preserved and occupy a commanding position on high
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TJSK CASTLE—FROM THE INNER COURT.
Mat 6, 1899.
the limbs or body, and in those very exceptional instances in which such a tumour is present, it never crackles on pressure ; on the other hand, the development of a crackling tumour in some part of the body or limbs is almost constant in quarter evil.
With regard to abortion the leaflet states that the common cause of repeated abortion at intervals in the same herd is contagion. The disease is caused by a germ which multiplies in the membranes of the uterus, and those that surround the calf, and the premature expulsion of the foetus is the result of the inflammation and irritation set up by the germs. The discharges which come away from an affected cow, and especially those that escape during and after the act of abortion, contain the germs in great numbers, and are therefore capable of spreading the disease. Whenever an outbreak occurs it should be treated on the lines applicable to the suppression of other contagious diseases, the measures adopted including (1) the prompt re inoval from the herd of any cow that has aborted, nr that shows signs of impending abortion ; (2) destruction of the fœtus and its membranes by lire or otherwise ; (3) frequent cleansing and disinfection of the byre or cowshed ; (4) daily sponging of the root of the tail and neighbourhood of the valva of each cow with a disinfectant solution. In disinfecting the byre attention should be directed mainly to the hinder part of the stalls, and the channel behind the cows. As a disinfectant a solution ol sulphate of copper, chloride of lime, or carbolic acid (one in 50 parts of water), may be employed, and .the more freely this is used the better.
The Royal Commission on Horsebreeding, of which Mr. J. Herbert Taylor is secretary, has issued a list of arrangements for the present season with reference to the “ Queen’s Premium” stallions. The location of the various i horses in! each district is given, with the names and addresses of the gentlemen on the distric! committee in each ease, to whom applications for nominations have to be made. The horses will serve 50 half-bred mares (if required), in the various districts during the present season, at £2 each mare, and 2s. 6d. to the groom, thus, bringing a really good sire within the reach of all of our tenant farmers.
An interesting correspondence has been going on in the columns of the “ Field ” for some weeks past on the subject of the depopulation of the rural districts, a topic which is every day be coming more and more a matter of anxiety fo the employer of agricultural labour. A gentleman signing himself “A Landlord and Farmer,” and who cultivates some 2,000 or 3,000 acres in the eastern counties, and therefore has the advantage of experience, gives it as his opinion that the solution of the difficulty will never be found until the present antiquated system of paying wages to farm labourers ceases.
Unclaimed and Lost Property Sale.— On Monday, Messrs. G. W. Dixon and Co., held the annual clearance sale of unclaimed property left in the trains or at the luggage offices of the London and South-Western Railway Co., at the company’s Stores Department, Wands-worth-road. There were some 2,000 umbrellas disposed of, generally in lots of 12, 18 and 24, the price per lot varying, as a rule, from 4s. to 9s. according to quantity.' Sunshades and walking sticks were sold in hundreds, and ladies/ handbags, travelling cases, brief !bags, picnic baskets, portmanteaus, and trunks of all conceivable varieties were sold by the score. It would seem that, after umbrellas, gloves are most frequently left behind by the passengers on the L. and S.W.R., for these were sold in basketfuls at incredible prices. Among the articles put up were 33 razors, 136 purses, 80 tobacco pouches, 190 pipes, 36 clothes and hoot brushes, 90 combs, 40 tooth-brushes, 24 forks 52 spoons, 16 pairs of spectacles, nine bicycle bells and three saddles, nine bicycle pumps nine spirit flasks, a case of mathematical instruments, a large number of clocks, a dozen or so of oil paintings, five cameras, five melodeons and one concertina, a plate-chest 18in. by 13in four sacks of confetti, guns, cricket bats’ archery bows, golf-sticks, horse rollers and clipping machines, macintoshes, cushions, eol-iars, ties, cuffs, pocket handkerchiefs, innumerable dolls, electric bells, sewing machines, eight assegais and six African sticks ”
ground to the north of the town of Usk. The road approach is through the eastern por al, seldom frequented, the path mostly used being the one under the outer curtain wall, entering the Castle grounds at the southern corner.
The Inner Court covers a level surface of about 3,000 square yards, and the whole of the massive walls enclosing it, as well as the Lady Tower, Keep, and Minor Towers are in preservatmn, arM are covered with ivy, clematis and climbing plants, the growth of many years that have elapsed since the Castle was abandoned.
The history °f Usk Cast!0 furnishes the earliest written records of the nlace ■ and though, from some of its architectural features, it was of Roman or Roman-British origin yet the remotest notice which has hitherto been discovered is that ״ formed
Third 7״TbTT !10!‘״‘I‘36 ClarS’ Earl °f Glouoester, in the time of Henry the Third it probably descended to him from Gilbert de Clare, who first invaded this
part of the country in the time of Henry I.; from that family it came to the Morti mere, Earls of March. Edmund Moi timer dying without issue, in the third year of York7 the	vastP°ssessions were granted to his nephew, Richard, Duke of
"a “־ “f ti־* ׳־״־״“ c-־״««' -״■ ־ £ •
A castle there in Oske doth yet remaine,
A seat where kings and princes have been borne,”
S “S"‘'' “3 “* °h№“' “a Ki”e Bioh"d th־ TbM ■» ״־<> >»
On the death of Richard, the Castle became the property of Henry VII It after
»׳-.* - ׳“ ׳i
nd it suffered particularly, together with the town, in the ravages of Owen Glyndwr’
fon״ih here m,P0SSeSS1T aDd GOmmittinS the m°st ruthless devastations at gth here met with a complete defeat, his army being totally routed and he ’ strained to fly for safety to his native mountains.	*	’	^ °°n־
It was in a very dilapidated state in the time of Elizabeth ; for Churchyard describes the towers so «■ tome with wether’s blast, and time that wears all out ” as not fob sufficiently interesting to entertain his muse.	׳	to be
pnntrhaf	rornum8^which g‘aua on an abrupt eminence to the east of the river
consist of a shell enclosing a court, the principal entrance to which is by a tower gate’
On the face of it, he says, ,the farm labourer is worse off than the town labourer, but in . reality, taking the extra harvest money, and the low cottage rents into consideration, there is not so much difference as there is thought to be. in fact, in many ways the agricultural labourer is better off. In the case of a young man who is anxious to get on in the world, he naturally will go to the town for his 16s. to 18s. a week, . not taking into consideration the high rents and much greater cost of living. This is the writer’s point of argument—he is hardworking, he soon becomes a more or less skilled labourer, at a higher wage, and is not classed with an inferior | grade of labour, whereas, what do our agriculturists do ? A lad rises to 11s. a week and har-vest- money, and whether he he slow or fast, good or bad, is classed with the indifferent workman, and not paid on his merits. The j remedy suggested is pay a man for what he is 1 worth ; have a classification of labourers, and pay them according to their merits ; give higher weekly wages and no harvest bonus.
There is certainly a great deal in the fact that an agricultural labourer has but little opportunity for getting on in the world. He is not required to overwork himself, and whether he does a little more or a little less in a day than his fellows he gets the same weekly wages. In piece work, of course, it is different, and this seems the only plan by which men can be paid according to their merits, and by which a good man can earn more than a slow or indifferent hand.
In the southern counties, where wages are certainly low enough, much work is let out by the piece, such as turnip hoeing, grass mowing, hedge trimming, etc., and at these labours men can, by dint of hard work, earn double and sometimes more, the ordinary wage. Perhaps it would be better if more work could be arranged in this manner so as to give our youn״ labourers a chance to earn wages according io their skill, but still there are many farming operations which, must be done by day work as the feeding and attending stock, and such like duties.