4 ox THE AGKICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 



circumference. ]\Ioors are neither numerons nor large, and game 

 very scarce, hares and partridges being the predominating species. 

 The majority of the landlords preserve their shootings; but it is 

 seldom that game gidevances disturb the political atmosphere of 

 Fife. In the higher parts, adjoining Kinross, there is a consider- 

 able quantity of peat-moss, and deposits of moss are met with 

 here and there throughout the county. 



One important feature of Fife is the very large number of 

 towns and villages that are scattered over the county. There 

 are no fewer than fourteen royal burghs, and a whole host of 

 villages, chiefly along the coast. Cupar i^ the county town. It 

 is situated on the river Eden, has a population of 5105, and is a 

 cleanly kept busy little town of great antiquity. By far the 

 largest town is Dunfermline, situated at the south-west end of the 

 county. During the past two centuries it has risen from an un- 

 important rural village to one of the principal manufacturing 

 towns in Scotland. It has a population of 14,963, is yearly 

 extending in magnitude, and may be called the commercial 

 capital of the county. St Andrews, once the ecclesiastical 

 capital of Scotland, is a city of very great interest to the anti- 

 quary, because of the peculiarly eventful character of its ancient 

 history. It was constituted a royal burgh by David I. in 1140, 

 and was once a most populous town, but since the Reformation 

 it has dwindled away considerably, and now it can numl^er only 

 6316 inhabitants. The University of St Andrews was founded 

 in 1411 by Bishop Wardlaw, and is thus the oldest university 

 in Scotland. The " Lang Toon " (Kirkcaldy), famous for its 

 manufactories and as the birthplace of Adam Smith, the talented 

 author of the " Wealth of Nations," has an industrious population 

 of 12,422 ; while Dysart, situated on the coast two miles north- 

 east from Kirkcaldy, numbers 8919 persons. Burntisland, a rising 

 watering-place, stands on the coast almost immediately opposite 

 Edinburgh, and has a population of 3265. It is surrounded 

 by scenery of great grandeur, is held in high repute as a watering- 

 place, and during the summer months, when it^is resorted to by 

 hundreds of the inhabitants of Edinburgh and other towns, is the 

 scene of no little life. The village of Lower Largo is famous as 

 having been the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, the prototype 

 of " Kobinson Crusoe," while Anstruther-Easter, a royal burgh 

 with a population of 1,289, ranks amongst its sons with pardon- 

 able pride the celebrated Dr Chalmers. The ancient history of 

 the county of Fife is of much more than ordinary interest on 

 account of its being so closely connected with the life and history 

 of the kings of Scotland. Anything merely historical is beyond 

 the range of this report, but a few sentences may be given. At 

 one time the entire district, comprising Fife, Clackmannan, Kin- 

 ross, the eastern part of Strathearn, and the country west of the 



