COUXTIES OF EDINBURGH AND LINLITHGOW. 57 



The Flints have been farmers in the parish for 300 years, and the 

 present holding has been in their hands for thirty-one years. The 

 soil being stiff, the following rotation is adopted : — 1st, oats ; 2d, 

 beans, potatoes, and turnips ; 3d, wheat or barley ; 4th, hay ; and 

 5th, ^rass. The extra manure is bouf^ht from a neif^hbourino- 

 dairy, and cattle are kept in winter to consume the straw. Pota- 

 toes are always liberally manured, about 40 tons of dung being 

 applied with a little artificial to give the plants a start= Ee- 

 gents and Dalmahoys are the varieties usually grown. The 

 land has been mostly drained within the current lease, at the com- 

 mencement of which 10s per acre was added to the rent. Eetrac- 

 ing our steps to Three-Mile Town, and keeping to the north, we 

 enter the parish of Abercorn. Here the scenery is strikingly pic- 

 turesque, the seaboard being richly wooded, the fields highly culti- 

 vated, and in a fine state of fertility. The castellated mansion of 

 the Earl of Hopetoun enjoys a commanding prospect, having on 

 one side the blue sea, and on the other green fields, with the 

 Pentland Hills in the background. The soil in this quarter is 

 variable, but fertile. The substratum is still more changeable, 

 consisting of patches of till, gravel, sand, limestone, and sandstone. 

 So early as the 17th century, wheat was grown, rents being paid 

 in considerable part by this commodity. What draining was re- 

 quired was mainly accomplished before the close of the 18th 

 century, and a large extent of land planted and ornamented with 

 clumps and belts of trees. The fields were also enclosed by stone 

 walls and hedges. The Abercorn estate has long been famous in 

 the annals of Linlithgow. It formerly belonged to the Grahams. 

 Sir John Graham, who owned it in the 13th century, fell near 

 Falkirk, in the war ac^^ainst Edward I. of EuLrland, on the 22d of 

 July, 1298. But we must leave the memory of such scenes of 

 strife and discord, and pass on to notice the high-class farming 

 carried out in these more peaceful days. Entering the parish of 

 Carriden, we find the surface of the county more unequal, the 

 high lands culminating in the Irongarth or Glour-o'er-em Hills, 

 which attain an altitude of 519 feet, yet are all enclosed and 

 arable. Part of the soil is light and dry and part stitf and tilly, 

 but the whole produces good crops of different kinds. At Walton, 

 ^Ir George iJavidson, who acts as factor for Admiral Sir James 

 Hope, Carriden House, has GOO acres in his own hand. Different 

 rotations are adopted to suit the character of the soil, but the most 

 approved on the stiff clay is — 1st, oats ; 2d, beans; 3d, wheat; 

 4th, turni})S ; 5th, barley; and Gtli, grass. Where the land is 

 lighter, the following shift is observed: — 1st, oats ; 2d, turnips ; 

 3d, barley ; 4th, grass (hay, pasture, or both) ; and 5th, pasture. 

 Beans and turnips are invariably grown on the heavy soils; pota- 

 toes and turnips on the liuhter. Sometimes a verv stiff field is 

 bare fallowed, but this rarely occui-s. He commonly gives his 



