58 ox THE AGrJCULTUllE OF THE 



potato land a deep furrow in the autumn, manuring partially on 

 the stubble and partially in the drills in spring. It is grubbed 

 next season, and works admirably. Mr Davidson finds that spriug- 

 manuring invariably gives the heaviest crops, but the autumn- 

 dressed land produces the best quality of tubers, and the writer's 

 experience is that they are not so liable to disease. Walker's iie- 

 gents form the bulk of the crop, but a few Victorias are grown. 

 The selling price is L.20 upon the ground. The land was tho- 

 roughly drained by the present tenant twenty years ago, the drains 

 being laid down 2 J to 4 feet deep, according to requirements. In 

 cutting, a heavy drain plough by Alexander was used, twenty 

 horses being em2:)loyed to draw it. Afterwards, the cuts were 

 cleared and the tiles laid. He, however, gave up this system in 

 wet weather, as the trampling of so many horses poached the land 

 so much that it was difficult to work and get into ticl for a long time 

 lifter. Throughout the whole of this parish, the crops yield toler- 

 ably well and produce a nice sample. Wheat reaches 32 to 36 

 bushels ; barley, 40 to 42 ; oats, 40 ; and beans, 32 to 36 bushels 

 per imperial acre. Potatoes weigh 6 to 8 tons per acre ; swede 

 turnips, 24, and common varieties, 18 to 20 tons. Nineteen years' 

 leases prevail, almost without exception. After the Crimean War, 

 a few 2:)rosperous seasons and a general uprise in produce caused 

 land to be in great demand, so that rents ran up considerably, in 

 many cases as far as 10s. to 12s. per acre. Eeceiitly, there has 

 been little change, but the tendency is still to an advancement. 

 Current rents are 34s. to 40s. per acre — in exceptional cases 50s. ; 

 but we do not hear that the latter fic^ure is ever exceeded. 



Taking the road again, we soon arrive at the old-fashioned 

 town of Linlithgow. The land in the parish is somewhat hilly, 

 but on the level tracts the soil is deep, fertile, and well-culti- 

 vated. Mr Wilson holds 200 acres of lio-ht soil at Lochend. He 

 is just completing his second nineteen years' lease, and as his 

 dairying interest is increasing, he is grazing more than for- 

 merly, some of the fields being three, four, or five years in grass. 

 The farm has been much improved during the currency of the 

 past lease, double fences having been uprooted, trees hewn 

 down, drains cut and laid, and fields enlarged. A portion is 

 cropped thus: — 1st, potatoes from lea; 2d, wheat; 3d, oats; 4th, 

 turnips; and 5th, barley, with grass seeds. The laud is then 

 left in pasture three to five years, according to cpiality and other 

 circumstances. Twenty cross-bred cattle are kept for the dairy, 

 the milk being all churned. The soil is rather free for wheat, 

 but the sample is fine, and the crop sometimes reaches 5 qrs. 

 per acre. The common rotation in the neighbourhood is — 1st, 

 oats ; 2d, potatoes ; 3d, wheat ; 4th, turnips ; and 5th barley, 

 sown with grass seeds, which are mown or grazed the year fol- 

 lowing. Ee-passing the town of Linlithgow, and holding on to a 



