REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 289 



4. Course of Rotation. — Though the county is remarkably 

 diversified in respect of both soil and climate, yet the rotation 

 pursued is almost identical in every part of it. Indeed, the 

 order of cropping followed is always the same, the only difference 

 being in the length of time during; which the land is allowed to 

 remain in pasture. The order is as follows : — 1st year, grain, 

 always oats; second year, green crop; third year, grain (oats), and 

 very occasionally barley or wheat, with grass and clover seeds ; 

 4th year, hay or pasture, and on some farms only one additional 

 year of pasture, and on others two years. In the former case a 

 live years' rotation is acted on, and in the latter a six years' one. 

 The tendency has been of late years to shorten the rotation, 

 which we think is much to be regretted, all the more so that, as 

 we shall find by-and-by, such a frequent recurrence of green 

 cropping increases the probability of sustaining the damage 

 caused by the disease commonly called " finger-and-toe." The 

 six years" system is pursued on the estate of Annandale and on 

 some others, while the five years' rotation is followed on the 

 estates of the Duke of Buccleuch, Mr Carruthers of Dormont, Sir 

 Alexander Grierson, Mr Paterson of Brocklehirst, &c. Although 

 the farms on the Annandale estate are managed on a six years' 

 rotation, yet liberty is given to the tenants to pursue what 

 course they choose at the middle of the lease, the only restric- 

 tion being that the farm be left according to the six years' plan 

 at the close. 



The reporter has made a calculation, based on the statistics 

 collected by the Inland Eevenue in 1866, which shows that 

 two-thirds of the arable farms of the county are wrought on a 

 five years' rotation, while only one-third of them are managed on 

 the six years' plan. The calculation is as follows : — 



Total under grain crops, 49,577 acres. 



„ green crops, 26,974 „ 



fallow, 5,039 „ 



„ artificial grasses, 50,449 „ 



Total under rotation, 132,039 acres. 



It may be assumed that one-half of the extent of the grain 

 crops represents the number of acres broken up from lea every 

 year. If then 132,039 (total acres under rotation) be divided by 

 24,788 (being estimated grain crop after lea), it will give 

 almost exactly 5 \, which is thus the average rotation pursued 

 over the whole county. But if the arable farms be managed, 

 some on a five years' rotation and others on a six years' one, 

 and if the average be, as we have seen, 5^, then it follows 

 that two-thirds must be wrought on the five years' " shift," and 

 the remaining one-third on the six years' plan. 



