COUNTY OF STIRLING. 171 



hill grazings at 2s. 6cl. to 5s. During the past twenty-five years 

 rents have risen 15 to 20 per cent, and upwards, but the rise 

 has been chiefly in grazing and mixed husbandry farms, not so 

 much on the carse. Eents are thought to be too high, but there 

 is no lack of competition for any good farm that becomes vacant. 

 During the recent adverse seasons a good many proprietors have 

 returned 10 to 15 per cent, of the rental. 



Peasantry. 



There is a good supply of all kinds of labour, and the people 

 are fairly comfortable. The bothy system prevails to a limited 

 extent, but generally the unmarried servants get their food in 

 the kitchen and sleep in a bothy, which is carefully kept clean. 

 There is a good proportion of married ploughmen. Foremen 

 ploughmen get £32 to £38 of money, 6| bolls of oatmeal, half a 

 gallon of skimmed milk each morning, a free house, coals driven, 

 and two or three bags of potatoes. Ordinary ploughmen have 

 the same perquisites, with £26 to £32 a year in money, with 

 occasionally a small plot of garden ground. As a rule, no hens 

 or pigs are allowed. The engagements are yearly, beginning 

 usually at Martinmas. Single men are engaged by the half year, 

 and have their food in the kitchen, with £9 to £12 in money. 

 Women can be got in abundance from the villages. They get 

 Is. 6d. a day in summer, and 3s. to 3s. 4d. in harvest. For potato 

 lifting they get 2s. 6d., pulling turnips 2s., and thinning turnips 

 Is. 6d. a day in summer, but more if the work be pressing. 

 Wages rose in fifteen years from 30 to 40 per cent., but tliey 

 have fallen about 10 per cent, from the highest point of late 

 years. 



In tlie parish of Airth, the bothy system exists to a very 

 limited extent ; and the cottages, which are generally good, are 

 about sutlicient to supply labour for the district. The Dunmore 

 estate is well sui)i)lied with comfortable cottages. Farm ser- 

 vants are not allowed to keep a cow, but, in addition to gardens, 

 they have 400 yards of potatoes planted. On some farms there 

 is only one cottage, and the rest of the work-}ieople live in the 

 village of Airth, where a good many married labourers live, 

 paying 20s. to 30s. a year for an old cottage and a small garden, 

 in tlie parishes of Denny and Dunijiace farms are generally 

 small, having only one or two pairs of horses. The men servants 

 are generally single, and live in the farm house, but where the 

 farms are larger, the bothy system is adopted. The men pre}>are 

 their own footl and make their beds, but the buthy is cleaned 

 for them. Fur manual labour, specially in turnij) time and 

 harvest, the wives and families of miners are obtained from 

 the villages. In Gargunnock, there are few cottages cou- 



