LMrKOVEMKNTS ON THE t:STATE OF DENBKAE, FIFESIIIKE. 105 



the pipes, wliicli I considered was the surest and safest way to 

 have the work efliciently done, it being the most important part 

 of it, and none of the drains were allowed to he filled in until 

 I personally inspected them and gave instructions to that effect. 

 It was first proposed that the drains be 3 feet deep and G yards 

 apart, but after this was tried I found the subsoil was stiff clay, 

 and thought that, if it could be penetrated, the drains would be 

 of more advantage, so I resolved to cut a foot deeper ; this being 

 done, the subsoil was more open and water was come to, so the 

 whole of the land was drained to the depth of 4 feet, and 8 yards 

 apart, and laid with 2 inch pipes, the main drains being a foot 

 deeper and laid with 4 inch and sometimes 5 inch pipes, when 

 the fields were extensive. On the higher portion of the lands 

 large boulders of whinstone rock interrupted greatly the casting 

 of the drains, and I found it necessary to employ a man specially 

 to blast them and take them out, which was often a difficult 

 process. This, of course, incurred extra trouble and expense, but, 

 had such not been done, the work would have been imperfectly 

 executed. The cost was about £8 per acre, and the total sum 

 expended was £1500. This outlay, taking interest at 5 per cent., 

 was equal to £75 a-year, wliich, as I will afterwards explain, 

 amply repaid itself by increase of rent. 



The steading was greatly out of repair, and required consider- 

 able alteration and extension. The total cost for doino- so was 

 £1000, and the following were the principal improvements made. 

 Before these were commenced, a cottage on the farm was fitted 

 up for the workmen to live in, the nearest ^dllage being from 3 

 to 4 miles distant, and when one class of workmen finished it 

 was occupied by another, until the work was accomplished, which 

 was nearly two years. 



The first place demanding attention was the stable, wliich 

 incurred a good deal of expense. It was previously fitted up 

 with fourteen stalls and a hay-loft above. These were all 

 cleared away, and it was re-fitted with twelve stalls without 

 any loft above, — the breadth of two stalls being taken off the 

 end for a grass and hay shed, having a large door. The tre\ds 

 posts were of round larch trees, about 10 inches in diameter; 

 and the boards of foreign wood, 2 inches thick. The stalls 

 were fitted up with cast-iron hecks and troughs. A new tiled 

 roof, having sL\ ventilators, was put on, the couples being of half 

 white-wood battens, and the tile and plaster lath of the same wood. 



The cattle court was next commenced. It was a large and 

 open court partly enclosed ^vith a small shed. A brick" pillar 

 was placed in the centre and a wooden beam on the top to 

 support the roof, which then covered the whole. A wooden 

 trough and straw heck was placed all round, and a large swing 

 ^ate opening to the south, and a sHding door to the north. 



