REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 315 



for them to make the most of their vegetables, and to be careful 

 in their management at all seasons. 



There has been comparatively little variation in the quantity of 

 pork produced in Dumfriesshire during the last twenty-five years. 

 About the same number of pigs would be fed in 1842 as now, 

 but they were then kept to a greater age, and fed until they 

 reached a heavier weight than at present. At the former period 

 every farmer kept a considerable proportion of his pigs until 

 they were fourteen or fifteen months old. Now, very few are more 

 than one year old when they are killed, and the great proportion 

 are taken to market when nine and ten months old; consequently 

 the average weight is much less now than formerly. Eighteen to 

 twenty stones of 14 lbs. used to be a very common weight ; now 

 they generally run from fourteen to sixteen stones. This differ- 

 ence in weight is owing in some degree to a change in the breed, 

 as well as to their age, a kind of smaller bone and finer quality 

 having come now into fashion. The curers express a decided 

 preference for the lighter class of carcasses, and this induces the 

 feeders to rear the smaller kind. 



So much for the relative quantity produced in the county at 

 the commencement and close of the period over which this 

 report extends. It may not be uninteresting to inquire further 

 what proportion of pigs are fed in Dumfriesshire in comparison 

 with other counties. A perfectly accurate estimate of this may 

 be formed from the agricultural statistics collected by the Inland 

 Eevenue. The quotations we make are from the Eeport of 1866. 

 As remarked above, there are nearly 1000 more pigs in Dum- 

 friesshire than in any other county in Scotland. Dumfries has 

 18,612 ; Perth has 17,782 ; Forfar, 14,868 ; Aberdeen, 14,763 ; 

 Fife, 14,193; Ayr, 13,502; and Kirkcudbright, 10,289. There 

 are several counties, however, which have more pigs, in pro- 

 portion to the number of cattle kept, than this county ; whereas, 

 for example, Dumfries has 2-38 cattle for every pig, Haddington 

 has only 1-26 ; Edinburgh, 1-35 ; Berwick, 1-82 ; Fife, 192, and 

 Forfar, 1-92. 



The question may be asked, How is the fact to be accounted 

 for that the aggregate quantity of the pork fed in the county is 

 so great ? We believe that one main cause is to be found in the 

 large quantities of potatoes which used to be grown in the county 

 before the failure in that root took place. The expense of con- 

 veying these to the populous districts was so great, that, as 

 Dr Singer mentions, the price of potatoes was usually double in 

 Edinburgh what they could be sold for in Dumfriesshire, and he 

 specifies Is. 3d. per cwt. as an average price. Hence it was 

 found more profitable to feed pigs with them, and thus convert 

 them into a more portable form. A coarse variety, which yielded 

 a very large return per acre, used to be cultivated for the ex- 



