170 REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF PERTHSHIRE. 



thrashing-mill is regarded as the heart of the steading, and the straw 

 as the blood to be diffused without interruption or exposure to the 

 air ; and as it is the most bulky material, its easy transmission 

 is of primary importance. The arrangements may be varied, but 

 the general principle as regards the straw is sought to be carried 

 out, and the fatal error of old times of erecting the granary and 

 cart-shed between the barn and stable avoided. On this class of 

 land in Perthshire there is now little to complain of as regards 

 steadings, and it is fully on a par with the best districts elsewhere 

 in proportion to the size of the farms. 



During the last twenty years a great deal has been done in 

 fencing. Before that period there were probably fewer fences 

 in the arable lands suited for pasture than in any part of Scot- 

 land; and as long as the system of farming that has been 

 described was the rule, there was little necessity for them, for the 

 single year's grass was cut for hay ; and if it was kept two years 

 in grass, and grazed during the succeeding year, it was enclosed 

 with temporary paling or flakes for young cattle, or a boy was 

 engaged to herd the stock. When stone must be quarried and 

 carted some distance, a dyke is an expensive fence, and some of 

 the stone in Perthshire is not durable ; but where good stone was 

 to be had, there are dykes, or rather walls, not to be surpassed. 

 To hedges also there was the same objection, as they required 

 double palings to protect them when young ; and wood is gold in 

 this county. Had no cheaper system of fencing been discovered, 

 it is doubtful whether much progress would yet have been made 

 in that matter. Wire fences, however, were introduced about 

 twenty years ago, and since that time they have been adopted to 

 a great extent. They answer very well for sheep, and also for 

 cattle when a bar of paling is put along the top ; and though a 

 good horse now and then gets his legs into them, and is taken 

 out more dead than alive, the trade of erecting wire fences goes 

 on and prospers, and many people have adopted it as a means 

 of living. 



Having thus noticed that class of improvements in draining 

 the land and erecting houses and fences, which it is the province 

 of the proprietor to supply to the tenant, it remains to advert to 

 the improvements and changes that have taken place in the farm 

 management by the tenants themselves. 



The first step in the right direction for this class of land was 

 the desertion of the six-shift, with three grain crops, to the five- 

 shift, with two white crops, a green crop, and two years of grass, 

 which now may be considered as the prevailing rotation, as none 

 more severe is allowed or practised on lands of this class. Some 

 farmers prolong it by introducing another green crop and grain 

 crop, and some leave the land three years in grass. Before the 

 appearance of the potato disease in 18-45 that crop had for many 



