320 REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 



meant to stand for the winter. The following estimate, as at the 

 above date, has been made after consulting some of the most 

 competent authorities in the county : — 



1. Cheviot and Blackfaced stock on the hill pas- 



tures, 220,000 to 230,000 



2. Cheviot ewes on intermediate 



pastures and low lands from 

 which half-bred lambs are 

 reared, .... 60,000 to 70,000 



3. Sheep of various breeds in the 



low lands, and principally 



wintered on turnips, . . 100,000 to 110,000 



Making, of all kinds in the county, 



a total of .... 380,000 to 410,000 



The 220,000 to 230,000 sheep which are supposed to be kept 

 on the hill pastures are meant to include not only ewes, but also 

 young sheep which are being reared for breeders. 



Dr Singer estimates the total number of sheep in the county, 

 at the time he wrote, at 200,000, of which he supposed 175,000 

 belonged to the mountain flocks, and the other 25,000 to the low 

 farms. It will thus be seen that the principal increase has taken 

 place on the low lands ; and it is not too much to say that the 

 introduction and improvement of cross-bred sheep has largely 

 benefited the arable farmer, in the profitable consumption of his 

 root crops and sown grasses, so necessary to keep up the fertility 

 of his lands. 



Section X. — 1. Draining. 2. Liming. 3. Subsoil Ploughing. 

 4. Comparative Expense of working an Arable Farm twenty-five 

 years ago and now. 5. Auction- Marts. Concluding Remarks. 



We come now to treat shortly of several miscellaneous topics, 

 some of which have indirectly been referred to in previous sec- 

 tions, but they are of such importance as to require separate 

 notice, and the first is — 



1. Drainage. — The extent to which drainage has been exe- 

 cuted in Dumfriesshire has been indicated in the second section, 

 and need not be repeated here. It began to be extensively 

 carried out immediately after 1840, until now about one-half of 

 the land in the county which required it has been drained. The 

 L.71,000 of the Government grant which was appropriated in 

 Dumfriesshire, was carefully and profitably spent, under the 

 able superintendence of the late Mr James "W. Patterson, who 

 acted as inspector. The soils and subsoils are so different that 

 the drains are cut at various depths and distances apart. Many 

 used stones to carry off the water, when drainage first became 



