REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF PERTHSHIRE. 173 



increased, and the condition of the land correspondingly improved. 

 But, on the other hand, wherever these principles' have been 

 neglected, wherever these lighter manures have been trusted to 

 supply the place of farm-yard manure, where turnips and pota- 

 toes have been grown with them, and carried off, and, at the same 

 time, the grain crops have been stimulated by similar applications, 

 the laud has been reduced, instead of improved in condition. 



It would be a mistake to suppose that if a change in the rela- 

 tive prices of grain and stock took place, which is very unlikely, 

 at least to the extent of a transposition, that the farmers of the 

 light lands of Perthshire could go back to the system of thirty 

 years ago — pure grain growing. Though grain rose to double its 

 present price, and beef and mutton fell to 7s. per stone, instead 

 of nearly 12s. as at present, they have learned so much to look on 

 stock as a necessary means of keeping up the condition of their 

 farms, that they can never desert it. The large direct profits on 

 stock have induced them to adopt it as a part of their business, 

 but they have, at the same time, come to know that the indirect 

 profit is not to be despised ; and if the farmers of this class of 

 land lay out, as they are proposing to do, a greater proportion of 

 their farms in pasture than in the five or seven shift, they will 

 have it in a fit condition for grain cropping, if from some unex- 

 pected cause the price of grain should be such as to tempt them. 

 At the same time, it should be remembered that, except for 

 sheep, the duration of the pasture season in Scotland is very 

 short in comparison with Ireland and the south of England. 

 There they have good grass from the 1st of April to 1st January, 

 whereas in Scotland it may be set down as from 1st May to 1st 

 October, nine months against five. The Scotch farmer has thus 

 to feed in the house seven months out of the twelve, and it is 

 difficult to see how he can materially extend his pasture, and 

 reduce his crops that supply winter food, if he is to keep any con- 

 siderable proportion of cattle. Even with sheep of the fine breeds 

 suited for arable land laid down in pasture, they must have 

 turnips and grain in winter, as there would be little good in the 

 mere foggage of the pasture fields. The causes that induce them 

 to lay down a greater breadth in pasture, besides the high re- 

 turn from stock and the low prices of grain, are the high price of 

 labour, and scarcity of hands, especially day labourers and 

 women, and the trouble of managing farm servants, who know 

 the difficulty experienced in supplying their places. Thirty years 

 ago ploughmen's wages were, from L.10 to L.14, with meal and 

 milk, but now they run from L.20 to L.24 Then, again, it is 

 notorious, from the census returns, that the population in rural 

 parishes is, except in villages, gradually being reduced, where 

 the improvement of land and its proper cultivation and cleaning 

 require an increase, and farmers find it difficult to get hands 



