REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURE OF AYRSHIRE. 105 



entry, or even prior to at least a half-year's rent being drawn 

 from the soil, they would find the utmost difficulty in getting 

 their lands let at all, or if let on such terms, it would only be 

 probably at not more than some one-half the present rents re- 

 ceived, The very supposition of such a thing is a sort of insult 

 to the farmers of Scotland generally. What would a seedsman 

 say, if, having taken a seed-loft for one or more years, the land- 

 lord should demand half-a-y ear's rent in hand ere giving up the key ? 

 Go to — would say the seedsman, and turn on his heel at once. 



Any capitalist who would take 4 or 5 adjoining small inland 

 farms (say 500 acres in all), at anything near a rent equal to 

 the average of those presently paid by the 4 or 5 individual 

 small farmers, the writer would at once mark as a fit candidate 

 for the honour of placing " M.P. for Gartnavel " behind his 

 name ; and he would strongly advise any retiring Bailie-Nicol- 

 Jarvie of Glasgow, who, with no experience of farming, fondly 

 hopes to spend his declining years in " the delightful, gentle- 

 manly, and sure wealth-producing practice of agriculture !" — as 

 Cicero has it, by no means to try it on Ayrshire clays under 

 Ayrshire climate. Whether the law of hypothec is totally an- 

 nulled or only modified, it would only be justice to the mer- 

 chant that they should have the power of knowing when seques- 

 tration is taken out against a farmer, and that landlords should 

 have no power whatever to follow a hona-fide purchase. Failures 

 as a rule have been amongst our larger class of farmers, but anv 

 money lost through these is infinitesimal in amount contrasted 

 with the sums sunk in commercial bankruptcies, and failures 

 amongst our farming class, indeed, are of comparatively unfre- 

 quent occurrence. 



Farms without exception in Ayrshire are always let on leases 

 of from 18 to 21 years in duration, mostly either 18 or 19. 

 The rent of arable land ranges from about 10s. per imperial 

 acre, up to near £5 in a few cases of crack shore farms. It 

 would only be a very rough guess to attempt giving the average 

 rent for the county ; suffice it to say, that, taking into considera- 

 tion the quality of soil and climate, we verily believe land is 

 higher rented comparatively in Ayrshire than in any other part 

 of the three kingdoms. Seriously speaking Ayrshire farmers 

 generally have had a sore time of it of late, and most of them 

 been very hard pressed for the wherewithal. However, the re- 

 porter sincerely hopes there are many better years in store and 

 close at hand for his Ayrshire friends ; and in concluding this 

 report, he does so with the most hearty wishes of success to alL 



" Good luck to the hoof and the horn ; 

 Good luck to the flock and the fleece ; 

 Good luck to the growers of corn ; 

 May they ever have plenty and peace." 



