8 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF 



compulsory removal of the " Town Yard," some few years ago, 

 to make room for the esplanade, has extinguished that branch 

 also. 



But notwithstanding the collapse of these industries, the 

 prosperity of the town has not to any extent been impaired. 

 Eothesay, it is well known, is a favourite summer resort of the 

 Glasgow folks ; large numbers of them flock to it yearly in quest 

 of health and recreation, and this has been a means of great 

 advantage and prosperity to the whole town and island. Many 

 trades and interests have been fostered and advanced by it, and 

 amongst these, as may naturally be supposed, the agricultural 

 interest has come in for its due share of advantage. As it is with 

 this interest that we are chiefly concerned, we will now proceed 

 to remark more particularly upon it, making in the first place 

 some few observations on soil and climate. 



Soil and Climate. 



The characteristics of the soil in Bute vary greatly. On the 

 east side of the island it is of a sharp gravelly nature, and rests 

 OQ a substratum of red sandstone. Going north along the west 

 side of Port-Bannatyne or Kames Bay, the land lies very steep, 

 and with the exception of the fields along the shore, where the 

 soil is deeper, and the subsoil a gravelly clay or slate, the whole 

 of the ground is thin, and rests on a subsoil of red till. Passing 

 through the valley from Bannatyne Bay to Ettrick Bay, the soil 

 is still gravelly, but is much deeper, and large patches of loam 

 are to be found. The deepest soil in the island lies along the 

 Bay of Ettrick, where there is a depth of about 3 feet of earth, 

 and a bed of gravel lying under. Fifty years ago this was a 

 huge marsh, and a bed of moss still runs along the greater part 

 of the farm of Mid St Colmac. In the valley of Glenmore, large 

 patches of deep moss and loam are scattered over the fields, and 

 a turnip crop has been grown in this year (1880), in this glen, 

 which will compare favourably with any in the island. 



In the Commermenoch district, comprising the farms of 

 Larichorig, Baluachrach, Dunalunt, and Balichrach, the soil will 

 be found to be representative of all the difierent kinds of soil in 

 the island. The farm of Balichrach is admitted to be the most 

 regular crop-producing farm in the island, and on Ballycurrie, 

 the soil is light, free, and very easily wrought. In Kingarth, 

 especially along the valley from Scalpsie Bay to Kilchattan Bay, 

 there is also great variety of soil ; on the higher grounds it is 

 of a till and clay formation, and therefore poor, but in the straths 

 light sandy soil prevails, and an occasional depth of good loam 

 is met with. -^ 



Bute has been so long famed for its salubrious climate that 



