THE COUNTIES OF FORFAR AND KINCARDINE. 73 



mills were erected in the county at a cost of from £140 to £180 

 'each. Among the noted early improvers, Mr Barclay is men- 

 tioned as having been the most prominent. Between 1760 and 

 1790 he reclaimed over 900 acres, and planted 1000 acres, 

 raising the rental of his estate of Urie from £200 tu £1800 in 

 less than fifty years. Early in the century great improvement 

 was effected in houses, roads, and fences. 



Coming to speak of more recent times, we are happy to be 

 able to state that the spirit of improvement aroused in the last 

 -century has never been allowed to lie dormant. True, during 

 the last twenty-five years, a smaller extent of land has been 

 reclaimed than during either the last twenty-five years of the 

 eighteenth century or the first twenty-five of the present, but that 

 has not been due to any flagging in the spirit of improvement, 

 but simply to the fact that only a limited area of suitable land 

 remained for the proprietors and tenants of the past twenty-five 

 years to bring under cultivation. There has been less done 

 lately, simply because there has been less to do. Xo reliable 

 -data exist upon which to estimate the extent of land reclaimed 

 in the two counties during the first half of the present century. 

 The Kev. Mr Headrick estimated the arable land in Forfarshire 

 in 1813 at 340,643 acres, but it is clear that that far exceeded 

 the actual extent, for the area at present under all kinds of 

 crops, here, fallow, and grass, falls short of it by nearly 90,000 

 acres. The statistics relating to Kincardineshire seem to be 

 rather more accurate. The area under cultivation in 1807 was 

 estimated at 74,377 acres, and from this it would appear that 

 during the first half of the present century about 27,000 acres 

 had been added to the arable extent. 



Confining ourselves to the last twenty-five years, we find that 

 in both counties there has been a very substantial increase in 

 the extent of arable land. The agricultural returns, taken up at 

 the outset by the Higliland Society and ultimately by the Board 

 of Trade, did not at the commencement include holdings rented 

 at less than £10 a year. It is therefore impossible to ascertain 

 the exact extent of the increase. The following table, however, 

 affords a pretty correct indication : — 



The percentage of the aralde area of Forfar under cultivation 

 in 1870 was 41-8 ; now it is 44-5. In Kincardine, the percent- 

 age in 1870 was 47*1 ; it is now 485. 



This increase, equal to 1246 acres a year in Forfar and 1117 



