22 • ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



In 1866 it was 802 acres in Mid-Lotliian, but bv 1875 the 

 area had been reduced to 467 acres. In Linlithgow, for the 

 same years, the acreage was 1029 and 1026 — a very small 

 difference in ten years. In the latter county the crop is some- 

 times a very good one, the returns being ample and satisfactory. 

 A firm consolidated soil is best for the bean crop, the tilth being 

 such that the plants can send their rootlets a long way down into 

 it. If lime is not present, it is generally added, as it is an 

 essential element in the constitution of the bean crop. Both the 

 drill and broadcast systems of sowing are common, but the former 

 mostly prevails, and is undoubtedly the best. A width of from 

 16 to 24 inches between the drills allows of the plants being 

 thoroughly cleaned, and is therefore considered the most conve- 

 nient. The bean crop reaches from 32 to 36 bushels per acre on 

 the average : when these figures are exceeded, the return is 

 thought good. 



Rije and Peas. — ^Very little land is occupied by these crops 

 in either county, being confined to a few acres in small patches. 

 As the produce affects the agriculture in a trifling degree, it would 

 be a waste of time to enter into details of quantities and methods 

 of cultivation. We may note, however, that in 1875 there were 

 in both counties 52 acres of rye and 41 of peas in the aggregate. 



Hay and Grass. 



Within the past ten years a much larger breadth has been 

 annually devoted to sown grasses. The acreage was in — 



The grass seeds are generally sown along with the barley 

 crop, which is the last in the rotation ; now and then this plan 

 is deviated from, but seldom. When barley has been put 

 down early, the grass seeds are sown after it has brairded, be- 

 cause, if they are put in at the same time, they get too 

 profuse by harvest time, and cause great difficulty in securing 

 the drying of the sheaves for the stack. In a favourable season, 

 sowing commences by the middle of April. The seed is now 

 almost universally deposited by a drill, 16 to 18 feet wide, and 

 covered in either by a very light stroke of the harrows or by a 

 turn with the roller. The latter plan is mainly adopted, and is 

 to be recommended, because the nearer small seeds are to the 

 surface the better. Throughout both counties farmers hold 

 various opinions as to the quantity of seeds requisite tD produce 

 a full and close sole of grass. Mr Anderson, of Norton Mains, 



