326 FLINT Africa. The mining for flints is conducted by sinking a narrow pit into the chalk till the bed of suitable flints (the best are " floor-stones") is reached, and along this the miner drives a series of small galleries or burrows, carrying all the excavated material by hand to the surface. The knapper s tools consist of three simple forms of hammer and a chisel; and probably the only essential modification these tools have ever undergone consists in the substitution of metal for stone. The flint is first broken into convenient sized angular pieces, cubes of about 6 inches, called " quarters." The next operation, " flaking," consists in striking off, by means of carefully measured and well directed blows, flakes extending from end to end of the quarter, this process of flaking being continued till the quarter or core becomes too small to yield good flakes. The subsequent operation termed "knapping" consists in cutting or breaking the flakes transversely into the sizes required for gun-flints, each flake yielding two or three flints of different sizes. An expert flaker will make 7000 to 10,000 flakes in a day of twelve hours, and in the same time an average knapper will finish, from flakes about 3000 gun-flints. Flint is also employed in building and for road metal. Calcined and powdered it is very much used in the manufacture of superior kinds of pottery. For the flint implements of primitive times, see ANTHROPOLOGY, vol. ii. p. 115, and ARCHAEOLOGY, vol. ii. p. 337. FLINT, a maritime county of North Wales, the smallest but one of the Welsh and English, counties, has an area of 264 square miles, or 169,162 acres; and (excluding the detached hundred of Maelor, which is divided from Den bighshire by the Dee, and bounded N, by Cheshire and S. and E. by Salop, lying 8 miles to the S.E. of the rest of the county) its boundaries are the estuary on the N., Cheshire on the N. and N.E., and Denbighshire with the Clwydian range to the S. and S.W. The greatest length of the county from S.E. to N.W. is 26 miles, and its breadth is from 10 to 12 Maelor being 9 miles by 5. The chief part of it is situate on the Coal-Measures and other members of the Carboniferous rocks group. A hilly tract of 50 miles breadth separates the Anglesey Coal-Measures from the Flintshire coal-field, which is again separated from that of Denbighshire to S.E. by the elevation of Mountain Lime stone and Millstone Grit between Gresford and Hope. The latter runs continuously along the southern edge of the coal strata, followed, except in the extreme south, where we have the Wenlock rocks, by the Mountain Limestone. The extreme west and east, as well as the detached hundred, of the county is on the New Red Sandstone. Symonds says," The coal measures may be traced along the shore from Flint to the Point of Air ; and the route from Flint to the west of Holywell crosses the Millstone Grit to the Mountain Limestone." The Wenlock rocks, of considerable altitude, forming the northern limb of the Berwen moun tains, extend to within a mile of the shore of the Dee, near the western limit of the county, the margin still west being composed of the alluvial flat of Rhuddlan marsh and part of the vale of Clwyd. To the south the water-shed of the Berwens divides Flintshire and Denbighshire for some distance, Moel Fammau, a member of the range common to both, rising to 1845 feet. This is high for Flintshire, though Buckley and Halkin mountains, with the rest of the hill system north and south, indicate a generally moun tainous character. A narrow alluvial tract to the east lies parallel to that already mentioned in the extreme west, and both are connected by a fertile strip of reclaimed land on the south shore of the estuary. The hundred of Maelor is flat, fertile, and highly picturesque. Flint has some lovely valleys, such as those of the Clwyd, partly in the county, and the Alyn, and dingles and ravines, such as the course of the Wepre brook from Ewloe Castle to the Deo. The chief rivers are the Dee, Clwyd, and Alyn. The Dee, entering the county near Overton, divides Maelor from Denbighshire on the west, and, after passing Chester, bounds it also on the north. The Clwyd, rising in Denbighshire, enters Flintshire near Bodfary, and after a brief northward course, joins the Elwy near Rhuddlan, past which they flow in one channel into the Irish Sea near Ixhyl. The Alyn, a Denbighshire tributary, enters Flint shire near the base of Moel Fammau, winds between Cilcen and Mold, with an underground course of half a mile, like fabled Alpheus, near Hesp-Alyn, and then bending south to Caergwyrle, re-enters Denbighshire to join the Dee. Of Flintshire lakes, unimportant compared with those of neigh bouring counties, Llyn Helig near Whitford is the chief. Sloping seaward, with a mild climate, a moderate eleva tion and shelter, and sufficient irrigation, Flintshire is well adapted for agriculture. Three-fourths of its area is under cultivation, as follows: Under corn crops 31,740 acres, of which wheat and oats occupy each one-third, and barley one-fourth. Under green crops 8,315 acres, of which potatoes occupy one-fourth. Under grass under rotation 16,809 acres. Under permanent pasture.. 66,509 acres. Bare, fallow, &c 2,901 acres. Total in cultivation ...126,274 acres. Of green crops, turnips and swedes are the chief ; man golds are little grown. To every 100 acres of cultivated land the proportion of horses is 4 5, of cattle 42 f 4, of sheep 100 "8, and of pigs 11 8, the cattle and pigs being about the same proportion as for Denbighshire, while the horses and sheep number only about one-half. Stock and dairy farming are keenly pursued by the Flintshire farmer, who crosses his native cattle with Herefords and Downs, his native sheep with Leicesters and Southdowns. Flintshire farms are of more than average- size, and their occupiers are intelligent and progressive. In the thickly planted mining population they find a ready market for beef and mutton, as well as for cheese and butter. With this important increment to their agricultural population, the census of 1871 gives Flintshire a popula tion of 76,312, or an increase in ten years of above 6500. In 1801 the number was 39,469, so that the increase during the century has been nearly double. Flint is now one of the most densely peopled counties for its size, rank ing the third in numbers of North Wales. Its collieries, of which there are 27 of note in the county, producing an annual average of 500,000 tons, begin at Llanasa, and run south-east through Whitford, Holywell, Flint, Halkin, Northop, Buckley, Mold, and Hawarden. Much of the yield is exported. Lead is raised in Halkin mountain, and in some nine or ten mines of note about Mold, Holywell, Prestatyn, and Talacre, near Llanasa, the average annual produce being about 1200 tons. The town of Holywell has been reckoned the headquarters of the " lead ore ticketings." In some cases it is smelted on the spot. Elsewhere it is sent to Bagilt, Flint, or Chester for that purpose. At Dyserth zinc is worked to a limited extent, and copper in Talargoch mine. Flintshire has also cala- mine mines ; and in addition to frequent smelting works, large manufactories of oil, vitriol, potash, Arc., employ the dwellers near the coast, while coarse clay-potteries, the products of which go by train and rail to Connah s Quay, occupy those around Buckley. Little ironstone is now raised, the seams being thin and the yield low ; but an important source of industry is the large limestone quarries, eight in number, which produce a quantity of building stone, burnt lime, and small .stone for chemical works about Halkin and elsewhere.
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