A return was made in 1854, giving the following details on agriculture, in reference to Oswestry Town and Liberties, Oswestry Parish, and other parishes within the Hundred:—The total number of acres occupied in the Town and Liberties of Oswestry, the Parish of Oswestry, Llansilin, Llanyblodwel, Selattyn, Llwyntidman, Sychtyn, St. Martin’s, Chirk, Whittington, Felton, Ruyton, Knockin, and Kinnerley, was 78,301; sown with wheat, 7,909 acres; with barley, 6,512; oats, 2,924; rye, 39¾; beans and peas, 275; vetches, 160; turnips, 4,420½; mangold, 48¼; carrots, 24; potatoes, 566; flax, 5. Total under tillage, 24,013; clover, lucerne, and other artificial grasses, 6,307¼; permanent pasture, 3,198; irrigated meadows, 2,599¼; sheep walks and downs, 3,095½; total under grass, 63,990; number of acres in houses, gardens, roads, fences, &c., 1,468¾; number of acres in waste (if any) attached to the farms, 2,258; horses, 2,618; colts, 802; milch cows, 6,854; calves, 5,571; other cattle, including working oxen, 4,636; tups, 588; ewes, 12,509; lambs, 9,047; other sheep, 4,572; swine, 7,142; number of acres in wood and plantations, 3,749; common lands, 227.
The greatest registered quantity of wheat, according to the excise returns, ever sold in one day at Oswestry market, was disposed of on Wednesday, the 11th of July, 1855, namely, 4,373 imperial measures.
Natural History.
Our limits will not admit of extended observation on this subject, but it is our duty to direct the attention of our readers to the feathered tribes in the district, which include many of the more remarkable and beautiful of British birds. Mr. Cross, of Oswestry, has, in the last few years, made collections of rare and valuable birds, some delightful songsters, including the nightingale, the piping bullfinch, with birds of prey, those of the passerine order, and a large variety of water birds. The following list, formed more than twenty years ago, the names given according to Bewick’s history of birds, will show that the neighbourhood has long abounded with fine specimens of the feathered creation:—
Kites.—Ring-tailed eagle, osprey, common buzzard, honey buzzard, kite, goshawk, sparrow-hawk, hen harrier, kestrel, and marten.
Owls.—Great-eared owl, white owl, and tawny owl.
Butcher Birds.—Great ash-coloured shrike, red-backed shrike.
Pies.—Raven, carrion crow, hooded crow, rook, jackdaw, magpie, jay, starling, ring ousel, ousel cock or blackbird, missel thrush or storm cock, fieldfare, throstle or thrush, redwing, cuckoo, and wryneck.
Woodpeckers.—Green, greater spotted, lesser spotted, nuthatch, and creeper.
Grosbeaks.—Grosbeak or hawfinch, green grosbeak, bullfinch, pine grosbeak.