COUNTIES OF EDINBURGH AND LINLITIIGOAV. 31 



hand-digging. The potatoes are stored in pits, thatched with 

 straw, and covered with nine inches to one foot of soil. From 

 7 to 8 tons per acre is thought a good crop, hut the prolific 

 varieties occasionally reach 9 tons. The tubers are sorted into 

 three divisions, the largest size being for the table, the second for 

 seed, and the smallest for stock or the starch manufactories. 

 Large quantities of seed are sent to England, the change from 

 the Lothians being a good one; while the seed required in turn is 

 purchased every year, or every alternate year at furthest, from 

 Perth, Lanark, and the adjoining counties, the aim being to 

 obtain them from a later to an earlier and better district. 



Other Green Croids. — In Mid-Lothian, 657 acres of cabbage and 

 968 of vetches were grown in 1875. These form a valuable food 

 for dairy stock, as both crops come in at seasons when other 

 substances are scarce. Seventeen acres of mangolds and 53 

 of carrots were also raised. The latter are sometimes used for 

 horses, but a large portion of them goes to the Edinburgh green 

 market. In the same year, Linlithgow had 307 acres under 

 vetches, 72 under cabbages, 18 under mangold, and 1 under carrots. 



Live Stock. 



Cattle. — There are comparatively few cattle bred in Mid- 

 Lothian, but a larger proportion in Linlithgow, although breed- 

 ing is carried on not nearly so extensively as in many counties 

 of Scotland. In Aberdeen, Berwick, Caithness, Moray, and 

 Kincardine, for example, one-half of the entire number of cattle 

 collected by the Board of Trade are under two years of age, 

 while in Edinburgh only one-fourth, and in Linlithgow one- 

 third, are under two years; and were the statistics collected at 

 Christmas in place of midsummer, the proportion would still be 

 much smaller. Breeding is chiefly carried on upon farms remote 

 from the large towns, and on the uj^land lioldiugs, where nearly 

 all kinds of farming are now and then observed by one tenant. 

 (Jften the calves from the large dairies are purchased by hill far- 

 luers, reared, and sold off fat. Feeding cattle are generally good 

 crosses bought in at the autumn fairs, and disposed of during the 

 next summer. The farmers near Edinburgh have u^reat facilities for 

 the disposal of dairy produce, hence the dairying interest receives 

 a lartre amount of attention. The number of cattle was in — 



There has been a large increase in the num])er of cattle kept 

 within ten years, amounting to nearly 50 per cent, in Edinburgh, 



