50 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



and a true proverb, that " land never forgets having been 

 thoroughly managed." N"o fancy or accommodation prices are 

 given, so that the rents paid may be taken as a commercial basis 

 of what the land is really worth. Very little over-reaches L.3, 

 per acre, and an average of L.2 to L.2, 10s. for the best districts, 

 30s. to 35s. for medium soils, and L.l to 25s. for the worst land„ 

 will not be wide of the mark. Some hill pastures, considered 

 separately, are even far below the figures quoted, only beiug*^ 

 valued at a few shillings per acre. The rent of the parish of Up- 

 hall is quite L.2, if not L.2, 2s., throughout ; in Carriden, rents 

 are 30s. to 40s., and, in extreme cases, 50s., but none above ; in 

 the parish of Linlithgow, 32s. for the worst, to 42s. or perhaps- 

 45s. for the best, and in the high-lying parts not more than 

 25s. to 35s. The increase in the past twenty-five years may 

 be calculated at little less than 10s. per acre, being in some 

 cases as low as 10 per cent, uprise, in others as high as 30. An 

 average of this may be stated at 20 per cent. " With fairly pros- 

 perous years, we do not hear that farmers are overburdened with 

 the price they pay for their land, but a failure in the turnip crop,. 

 disease in potatoes, or a disastrous corn harvest, like that ex- 

 perienced in 1872, sometimes gives them enough to do to make 

 ends meet, without any offset as profit. 



Fences. — On the high-lying farms stone walls prevail to a 

 certain extent. These are generally 4 or 5 feet high, being fur- 

 nished at the top with a coping. Where blackfaced sheep are 

 kept, high walls are indispensable, as the woolly mountaineer is 

 gifted with leaping powers of no common order. The boundary 

 fences adjoining the main roads are often built with stone 

 and mortar, and, though exjDensive at the outset, are efficient and 

 lasting. Upon the hills, of late years, many sheep fences have 

 been constructed of wire, and answer very well. Where these 

 are varnished or painted every two or three years they last a loug 

 time. They are especially convenient on upland pasture, where 

 the erection of stone walls is attended with much expense and 

 difficulty. Quickset fences, or hedges composed of hawthorn, 

 however, mostly prevail, and when neatly trimmed lend a 

 charm to the rural prospect. In grazing fields, if allowed to grow 

 high, they are valuable for shelter, but are detrimental to crops 

 unless kept within proper bounds. Here and there, we imagine, 

 there is too much hedgerow timber, for however much these 

 isolated trees serve to enhance the beauty of the landscape in an 

 artistic point of view, it cannot be deoied that they impoverish 

 the soil for a considerable distance by their roots drawing the 

 nourishment from it, shade the crops from sun and air, destroy to 

 a certain extent field ventilatiou, and harbour wood-pigeons, 

 rooks, and other winged pests. Gates are well made, neatly 

 hung, and on many estates carefully painted year by year. 



