90 ox THE AGKICULTUEE OF THE 



"whole summer. Mr ^Yallace says : — "The crop was not half an 

 averag;e one in bulk, but so far as it went it was "ood. Barlev 

 brought 50s., oatmeal 48s., and potatoes 40s. per boll." The 

 year 1811 was very wet, and the greater portion of the crop 

 dreadfully damaged. Mr Wallace got o4s. per boll for his 

 barley that year. The crops of 1816 and 1817 were also bad, 

 oatmeal being about 40s. per boll, while in 1836 Mr Wallace's 

 whole crop would scarcely pay his rent. 



Mr Wallace's notes give a pretty good idea of how farming was 

 carried on, and how people lived throughout the counties gene- 

 rally, about a hundred years ago, and now we shall add a few 

 sentences regarding the state of matters during the first filty 

 years of the present century. Previous to the advent of the 

 present century no regular system of rotation seems to have been 

 observed, while not a single turnip, and only a very little wheat, 

 were grown. Barley, oats, and potatoes were almost the only 

 crops cultivated. The acreage under grain was small, and even 

 on the larger farms there were only three stacks, — one for the 

 iaird, one for seed and sale, and one for family use ; the barn 

 being filled first of all. In these days there were no direct roads 

 through the counties, and no convenient means of getting grain 

 or anything else exported to distant markets. The implements 

 in common use on the farms and crofts were very little, if any, 

 improved till well into the present century, w^hile the ancient 

 and unprofitable system of over-stocking farms with cattle and 

 horses was totally abolished only some forty or fifty years ago. 

 Sir George S. Mackenzie states that he has frequently seen on a 

 Highland farm two w^orking animals for each acre, and gives the 

 following interesting particulars regarding one notable case : — 

 *' Thirty acres were occupied by two men, w^ho had large families. 

 They possessed the land not in run-rig, but in common. Both 

 exerted themselves in cultivating the fields, and they agreed 

 respecting a particular but very irregular rotation of crops, and 

 divided the produce equally between them. They paid about 

 fifteen shillings per acre. On this farm were kept ten horses 

 and six head of cattle, besides young beasts. The land was 

 remarkably full of weeds of all sorts. After the cattle had done 

 ploughing they were turned upon the field on which they had 

 been working, in order that they might feed upon the weeds 

 which had been turned up. I never observed that they got any 

 sort of food during the day, except a small quantity of oats just 

 before they went to work. At night the horses and cattle were 

 turned to some patches of waste ground to pick up a miserable 

 pittance of grass. During the summer months the animals were 

 sent to OTaze on some bare hills : the horses beinsf brou^dit down 

 when the peats were ready for storing, and sent back as soon as 

 the fuel was s^ot home. When the corn was readv to be taken 



