4 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF 



An analysis of the first of the foregoing tables will show, 1st, 

 a marked increase in the acreage under cultivation in 1879 as 

 compared with 1855 ; 2d, an extraordinary decrease in the 

 breadth of land growing wheat, and an equally extraordinary 

 increase in the breadth under barley; 3d, a decrease to the 

 extent of 54 acres in the amount of land under turnips, and an 

 increase of 377 acres growing potatoes ; and 4th, the acreage 

 under sown grasses, sanfoin, and clover, shows a decrease of 

 2,900 acres in 1879, but in the same column will be found an 

 item of 9743 acres under permanent pasture, not heath or 

 mountain land, against which there is no corresponding entry in 

 the column for 1855. The result of this analysis, therefore, is that 

 there is found to be, in 1879, 6848 acres under cultivation more 

 than there was in 1855 ; that the growth of barley has in a great 

 measure, though not altogether, superseded the growth of wheat, 

 that an increased number of acres are now green cropped, and 

 more potatoes are grown and less turnips than in 1855 ; and that 

 there is a considerable increase in the acreage under permanent 

 pasture. As we proceed with our report evidence in support of 

 these statements will be furnished, and the causes which have 

 produced these changes will be referred to. 



Coming now to the second table, we find that the number of 

 horses in the county has increased during the last twenty-four or 

 twenty-five years by 188 animals, the number of cattle by 151, 

 the number of sheep by 5951, while the number of pigs has 

 decreased by 108. The total increase in live stock over the 

 period, therefore, is 6182 animals. 



The only other statistical information, indicative of the progress 

 the county has made, agriculturally and otherwise, during the 

 period reported on, to which we will refer, is furnished by a com- 

 parison of the rental of the county at intervals since 1855. In 

 that year, inclusive of the burgh of Eothesay, and the extensive 

 watering-place of Millport in Cumbrae, the entire valuation of 

 the county amounted to £53,567 ; in 1865, exchisive of Eothesay 

 and Millport, the valuation was £34,679 ; in 1870 it was 

 £41,054; in 1875, £43,725; and in 1880 it is £47,938. The 

 rental of the island of Bute, exclusive of the burgh, in 1880, is 

 £25,109, 9s. ; the valuation of Arran, £20,136 10s. ; and of Cum- 

 brae, £15,690, 18s. 



Bute. 



The island of Bute, which gives the name to the county, 

 although not its most extensive division, is nevertheless the 

 richest in resources, and, taken as a whole, the most advanced in 

 agriculture. Its centre is in 55° 50' N. lat. and 5° 4' W. long. 

 It lies 40 miles west from Glas2^ow, and 18 miles south-west of_ 

 Greenock. Its greatest length is about 14 J miles, its average 



