i60 EEPOKT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF PERTHSHIRE. 



KEPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF PERTHSHIRE. 



By John Dickson, W.S., Greenbank, Perth. 



[Premium — Thirty Sovereigns.] 



Perthshire has been called the Yorkshire of Scotland ; and if 

 great extent, central position, diversity of soil, and variety in the 

 characteristics and configuration of the county, and the existence 

 of a large body of influential resident proprietary, are the dis- 

 tinguishing features of Yorkshire, the suggestion of a correspond- 

 ing position for Perthshire, in Scotland, is not without foundation. 



It contains 1,596,160 imperial acres, and extends in length 

 from east to west 67| miles, and in breadth from north to south 

 61J miles. Its rental by the last valuation is L.777,294; and 

 though the per acreage rental of some other counties in Scotland 

 is higher, that circumstance is attributable to their mineral and 

 manufacturing wealth, for no county in Scotland, with the excep- 

 tion of Aberdeen, yields so large a purely agricultural rental as 

 Perthshire. There is no coal in the county north of the Ochils, 

 and the only limestone within its bounds is found in the far 

 Highlands to the north of Ben-y-Vrachie, in Glen Goulandie, and 

 in the mountain ranges surrounding Lochs Kannoch, Tay, and 

 Earn, places where, hitherto at least, it has been of no commercial 

 use or value, except for enriching the pasture of a few spots in 

 their immediate neighbourhood. Neither is the richness of its 

 foliage marred by hot-blast furnaces, for blackband ironstone is 

 unknown within its borders. The shaft of a steam-engine is here 

 and there visible, but in most cases they are attached to thrash- 

 ing mills on large farms, and to thriving bleach-fields of old 

 standing, within a few miles of Perth on the Tay and the Almond. 

 The county, from these causes, forms a great contrast to its next 

 neighbour, the kingdom of Fife, teeming with treasures and 

 industries, which, while they augment its wealth, do not enhance 

 its natural beauties. 



Prom some, or all of these causes combined, there has been 

 much competition for property in the county, and the price of 

 land is, consequently, as a general rule, very high, — many estates 

 having been sold at prices 50 per cent, higher than they would 

 have realised in other counties in Scotland, when the intrinsic 

 value, or value estimated by produce instead of by rental in both 

 cases, is taken into consideration. 



The principal part of the arable land of Perthshire lies on the 

 east side of the county. The climate is comparatively dry in 

 these districts, as it is well known that the humidity of the 

 climate of Scotland decreases, and its rainfall rapidly diminishes, 

 as we leave the west coast and approach the east; and it is equally 



