52 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURE OF AYRSHIRE. 



town distillers are open to purchase any quantity. Probably 

 wet harvest-weather — very inimical to barley crops- — is the chief 

 reason of barley not being more sown in Ayrshire, at least on the 

 lighter and sharper soils. However, barley is again being 

 rather more grown of late, chiefly in St. Quivox parish, and 

 along the Carrick shore. We give the management of this 

 crop by Mr. James Wright, South Sanquhar (Forbes of Cal- 

 lander), St. Quivox, one of our most successful barley raisers. 

 Mr. Wright manages his light land on the 5-shift course, graz- 

 ing the 2 years under seeds, and the green crop entirely early 

 potatoes, with barley sown out generally following. As in 

 many other cases, wheat has not succeeded well with him for a 

 number of years back. The heavier portion of the farm is 

 worked on a 4-shift — oats, green crop, wheat, hay. The pota- 

 toes are manured with from 50 to 60 yards of farm-yard dung, and 

 4 to 5 cwt. per. guano, per .Scotch acre. Mr. Wright prefers to 

 manure rather heavily with the potato crop, and give no further 

 dressing to the barley ; his reason being that the manure is thus 

 taken with the soil, and throws firmer straw (not so apt to 

 lodge), as well as healthier grain better adopted for the maltsters. 

 The kind of barley sown is "Chevalier'' from Edinburgh : — 

 Seed per Scotch acre, near to 4 bushels ; time of sowing, end of 

 March or first week in April ; average produce, from 6 to 7 

 quarters ; average weight, 57 lbs. per bushel. The crop is 

 reaped in August; set up in six sheaves to the stook without 

 hoods; put into good sized rickles about six days after cutting, 

 or sooner if rain is feared : stands other six days or so in the 

 rickles, and afterwards stacked for a few weeks ere thrashing. 

 The straw is mostly used for bedding the cattle, but they eat it 

 freely for a short time when newly thrashed. Price of straw 

 usually Id per stone lower than oat straw. Ayrshire fiars 

 prices of grain 18G4 : — Barley, 26s. 7id. per qr. ; wheat, 34s. 8d. 

 per qr. ; oats, 14s. lOfd. per qr. 



Ayrshire in whole cannot be put forward as a wheat-grow- 

 ing region ; although, for all that, we rank as the fifth wheat- 

 growing county of Scotland. The acreage annually is about 

 16,000. Compared with the counties of Fife and Haddington 

 on the east coast, the acreage of wheat grown here, in propor- 

 tion to the total acreage under tillage, is 6,000 acres short as to 

 Fife, and 10,000 acres short as to East Lothian ; but consider- 

 ing that most of the wheat in Ayrshire is raised on a stripe of 

 land along the coast, and that no barley to speak of is grown 

 here, whilst these other counties comprise nearly as much land 

 under barley as under wheat, it is evident that out shore farmers 

 must cultivate wheat in by much the larger proportion of the 

 three. With relation to the land under tillage, Ayrshire grows 

 a rather greater proportional extent of wheat than Berwickshire, 



