THE COUNTIES OF FORFAR AND KINCARDINE. 71 



number of cattle was estimated at 36,499; a small breed, ranging 

 in weight from 16 to 20 stones avoirdupois, occupying the 

 liigher grounds, and a larger breed, weighing from 40 to 70 

 stones, the lower parts. Sheep numbered 53,970, and were 

 mostly of the blackfaced, a few being of the ancient dun or 

 whitefeiced kind, and others of mixed breeding. On some of the 

 better managed farms, and around proprietors' residences, there 

 was a good deal of enclosed land mostly under pasture. Farm 

 implements were still primitive, but improvements were fast 

 being introduced. The clumsy old Scotch plough, modernised 

 by mgtal boards, was still in use, but improved ploughs, chiefly 

 of Small's make, were speedily superseding it. It was not un- 

 common to see four horses attached to a plough, and oxen were 

 employed on many farms. Ploughmen's w^ages, without board, 

 averaged about Is. 3d. per day. There was then a large extent 

 of wood in the county, and early in the present century the 

 area was greatly increased by Lord Airlie, Sir Jamas Carnegie, 

 the Strathmore family, and others. The Eev. Mr Headrick 

 states the number and rental of the farms in 1813 as follows, 

 viz.: — Under £20 of annual rental, 1574; between £20 and 

 £50, 565 ; between £50 and £100, 682 ; between £100 and 

 £300, 315 ; and above £300, 86 ; making in all 3222 farms. 



Agricultural improvement in Kincardineshire would seem to 

 date from about 1760. About that time some important steps 

 of advancement were made by a few enterprising proprietors 

 and farmers, but it was not before the advent of the present 

 century that the spirit of improvement spread throughout the 

 main body of the tenantry. The area of cultivated land about 

 the commencement of the century is stated at 74,377 acres, 

 and that under actual tillage at 45,736, it being estimated that 

 other 28,000 acres were capable of being cultivated. In the 

 better parts of the county, in the Howe of the Mearns, and in 

 the parishes of St Cyrus and Benholm, wheat had been grown as 

 far back as tradition and record stretched ; while by 1807, 

 barley, oats, peas, beans, potatoes and turnips, and sown grasses 

 were cultivated with success all over the county. The practice 

 of leaving land in fallow is said to have been introduced into the 

 county loy Mr BarcLiy of Urie in 1761. It spread gradually 

 over the county, and in 1807 the fallow break was estimated at 

 2619 acres. A pretty regular and well-understood system of 

 rotation was pursued about the commencement of the century. 

 In the wheat districts the older rotation was — 1st, fallow and 

 turnips ; 2d, part wheat and part barley, usually two-thirds of 

 the former ; 3d, beans ; 4th, barley ; 5tli, clover ; 6th, pasture ; 

 and 7th, oats. Following tliis came a six-course rotation, of 

 fallow, wlieat, beans and turnips in equal proportions, barley, 

 clover, and oats, in order. On thin outlying soils the rotation 



