ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF FIFE. Y, 



that inhabited ancient Scotland, or in other words the " Emerald 

 Isle," occupied the western coast from the Firth of Clyde to lioss- 

 shire. Towards the middle of the ninth century the two Celtic 

 races — the Picts and the Scots— united, and lived peaceably until 

 disturbed by the ambitious Danes, who invaded Fife in 881. 

 From that time down till 1424, when the extensive lands of the 

 Thanes of Macduff (who possessed the greater portion of Fife) 

 were, on the execution of Murdoc the last chief of the Thanes, 

 confiscated to the Crown, the county frequently sustained con- 

 siderable damage at the hands of invaders. In the days of 

 James V., who resided at Falkland Palace, the social condition 

 of Fife, like the most of Scotland, was not of the brightest or the 

 happiest description. But the reign of that unfortunate monarch 

 may be noted as one of the^ turning points, a new point of de- 

 parture, in the social history of Fife, for ever after the county 

 has been found in the van of progress. The advance in the social 

 and intellectual scale during the present century has been most 

 marvellous ; and Mr Westwood, in his " Parochial Directory for 

 1862," says that " perhaps nothing gives that progress so much 

 prominence as the magnitude attained by the newspaper press 

 connected with the county. Previous to 1822 there was no 

 newspaper published in Fife, and the practice was to advertise 

 county and other public meetings in an Edinburgh newspaper, 

 and a few hundreds w^ould probably cover the sum total of every 

 newspaper that found an entrance into the county. At present 

 (1862) Fife can boast of ten weekly newspapers and advertising 

 sheets, besides three with a fortnightly issue, having a total cir- 

 culation of 25,000 ; nor is this all, for the circulation of Edin- 

 burgh and other newspapers not connected with the county is at 

 present ten times more than it was when no native broadsheet 

 existed. All this, without taking into account the immense cir- 

 culation of periodicals and books of every shape and size, which 

 forty years ago had no existence, exhibits an intellectual progress 

 penetrating to all classes of our society, and exerts an educa- 

 tional influence unequalled in any country or in any age of the 

 world." Even since 1862 there has been considerable improve- 

 ment in the social condition of the county. The educational 

 machinery, always abreast of the times, has been improved and 

 extended a good deal of late, and is now second to that in no 

 other county in Scotland ; while the position and influence of 

 the newspaper press has been greatly strengthened. The mining 

 and manufacturing interests being so extensive, the number of 

 commercial men in the county is necessarily large, and these as 

 a class are sharp, shrewd, intelligent, and well to do ; while the 

 farmers, generally speaking, are independent, industrious, enter- 

 prising, comfortably-conditioned men, several of them wealthy. 

 The working population have superior advantages in the way of 



