308 REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 



tinned the same system of management. Two brothers, Messrs 

 W. & G-. Jamieson, natives of Eaglesham, in Kenfrewshire, 

 entered upon a lease of the above farm in 1813. They brought 

 a stock of Ayrshire cows with them from their native district. 

 Being thoroughly acquainted with the process of cheese-making 

 then most highly approved of, and being moreover most in- 

 dustrious men, they succeeded in making their farm very re- 

 munerative. Four years after, the younger of the brothers 

 removed to Longhill, near Lockerbie, on the Castlemilk property, 

 and carried the dairy system still farther into the county. It is 

 probable that Ayrshire cows were kept about this time in the 

 parishes of Kirkconnel and Sanquhar, which are quite contiguous 

 to Ayrshire, but the reporter has been unable to ascertain the 

 exact period at which they were introduced into that district. 

 In 1823, Mr Hutchison had a dairy on the farm of Tinwald 

 Parks, in the Dumfries district. In course of time the system 

 was adopted on the farms of Lochbrow, Panlands, Dinwoodie 

 Green, Castlemilktown, and others in Annandale, and on a few 

 farms in various parishes of Upper Nithsdale. In 1832, the 

 late Mr William Stewart came from Fenwick, in Ayrshire, and 

 commenced a dairy on the farm of Hollybush, Cummertrees, 

 and was the first, so far as we are aware, to introduce the system 

 into the Annan district. Such was the extent of the inroad 

 which the dairy system had made into the county at the com- 

 mencement of the period over which this report extends. 



Between 1840-50 several Ayrshire men became lessees of 

 various farms at what were considered by local judges extremely 

 high rents, but they succeeded beyond expectation, by pursuing 

 the dairy system, which they were well able to do from their 

 practical acquaintance with the best methods of cheese-making. 

 Their success induced many native farmers to adopt the system ; 

 but in most instances, instead of keeping the cows in their own 

 hands, they let them " abowing " to men who principally came 

 from Ayrshire, and who had been trained from their earliest 

 years to such work. In course of time coavs were put upon 

 comparatively high lands, which many practical farmers regarded 

 as too high for such stock, and where only sheep and young 

 cattle had hitherto been pastured. The writer of this report 

 well remembers when, about 1853-54, dairies were introduced 

 upon such high farms as Boreland and Gillesbie, in Dryfe, and 

 Whitcastles and Cowburn, in Corrie (which are about 700 

 feet above sea level), surprise and disapproval were very freely 

 expressed by men who are generally regarded as no mean 

 authorities on most agricultural questions. But the leading 

 position which the cheese produced at these dairies has frequently 

 taken at local shows is an incontestable proof, — the force of 

 which even the adverse critics above referred to are now ready 



