REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF PERTHSHIRE. 161 



well known that the quality of the grain is greatly influenced 

 by the dryness or humidity of the climate in which it is grown; 

 in proof of all which we need only refer to the yearly Mars, 

 which rise from Wigtownshire eastward till they attain their 

 maximum in East Lothian and the other counties on the shores 

 of the German Ocean. The soil, also, of a great part of Perth- 

 shire is naturally dry, sharp, and fertile, and was capable of 

 profitable cultivation before thorough drainage was dreamt of ; 

 and these two circumstances, viz., the hygrometric position of the 

 county and the quality of the soil, pointed it out as _ a grain 

 growing county, when grain was more the staple agricultural 

 produce of the country, and land that would grow it was scarce, 

 and when both cattle and sheep were greatly less valuable than 

 at present, and so much of the rest of Scotland was capable of 

 producing nothing else. The Perthshire idea was, therefore, the 

 successful growth of grain ; land that would grow a " a true 

 boll" was the Goshen of a Perthshire farmer; and although 

 now " good grass land" is more frequently spoken of with favour, 

 it is quite a modem notion, not older certainly than the rail- 

 roads. So long as land was farmed for the production of grain 

 only, when plough and sow was the rule, as it was much too 

 long the rule in Perthshire, a farm could be stocked with very 

 little capital, compared with what is required where a proper stock 

 of cattle and sheep is kept ; and if a man could buy one, two, or 

 three pairs of horses, and implements in proportion, with seed to 

 sow the first crop, and offer some sort of security to the landlord 

 that he would do so much and pay the first year's rent, there was 

 nothing to prevent him with these limited means from starting 

 in a Perthshire farm ; and many a man with good luck and fair 

 weather at starting, that is to say, with good seasons and good 

 crops, combined with good prices, has pulled through wonderfully 

 in the times that are gone. To increase the facility for men of 

 small capital taking farms, the terms of payment of rent in the 

 best districts of Perthshire are postponed to Candlemas and 

 Whitsunday, or Candlemas and Lammas, or Whitsunday as 

 the sole term, all after reaping the crop, so that there is ample 

 time for realising the value of the produce before the payments 

 of rent, wages, and the current expenses of the first year fall 

 due. 



It is not difficult, however, to understand, that where the entry 

 to land is so easy as regards the amount of capital required for 

 the undertaking, there have always been a number of people who 

 considered themselves able for every farm that has been adver- 

 tised. An old foreman on a farm, who may have saved a little 

 money, thinks he can take a holding requiring a pair or perhaps 

 two pairs of horses ; or a tenant leaves his farm, — leaves it, pro- 

 bably, for one of two reasons, either that he is ruined, or has pulled 



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