COUNTY OF STIRLING. 173 



Profjress in the incst Twenty-Five Years. 



During the past quarter of a century the county has made 

 great progress in many respects. The population has largely 

 increased. In 1861 it was 91,926, and looking back still 

 further, to 1831, it was only 72,621. In 1871 it had risen to 

 98,218, and in 1881 it was 112,443. Of this population 64,673 

 consist of dwellers in towns, 22,141 inhabit villages, and 

 25,629 reside in rural districts. In Falkirk and its suburlDS the 

 increase has been 3887 ; in Stirling, 1733 ; in Grangemouth, 

 1991; in Alva, S^b] in Milngavie, 792; and in Kilsyth, 510. 

 There has been a decrease in Denny, Lennoxtown, and to a 

 very small extent in Bannockburn. In the county there are 

 now 251 persons to the square mile. Taking the whole popu- 

 lation and area of Scotland, there are 125 persons to the square 

 mile, or 51 acre to every person. Twenty-four counties have a 

 more sparse, and eight a more dense population than the county 

 of Stirling. The rental of the county has also very greatly 

 increased. For the year ending with Whitsunday 1856, when 

 the new system of valuation had just come into force, the rental 

 of the county was £370,549, of which £51,534 was in towns and 

 burghs, the remainder in the landward portion of the county ; 

 in 1882-83 it was £415,479, exclusive of railways, canals, and 

 tramways, which amounted to £103,870 additional. 



There have been improvements in the way of reclaiming 

 waste land, draining, liming, fencing, as well as in the numbers 

 and quality of stock. The most notable instance is at Ballikin- 

 rain, in the parish of Killearn. In the year 1862 Mr A. Orr 

 Ewing jJ^^rchased for £55,000 an estate of 5000 or 6000 acres 

 lying along the hills of Killearn, and sloping down towards the 

 river Endrick. Less than 2000 acres were arable, and the 

 estate was occupied by a number of comparatively small tenants. 

 Mr Orr Ewing took the whole under his own management, and 

 began a process of systematic improvement. The land formerly 

 under tillage was drained to a depth of 3 feet 6 inches, the 

 drains 18 feet apart, and in the smaller drains 2^-inch tiles. 

 The cost of draining was 3s. 9d. to 4s. a rood, making about £8 

 an acre. The same process was extended to land higher up the 

 hill sides, which had previously been worthless, and covered only 

 with stunted heatli. The total extent thus treated was upwards 

 of 2000 acres. The land, having been drained, was all ploughed 

 and subsoiled, chielly with subsoil grubbers made by Gray of 

 Uddingston. A croj) of oats was then taken, and then a second 

 crop, consisting of swedes, purj)le top, and Aberdeen yellow 

 turnips, sown in drills. Besides farm-yard manure 3 cwt. of 

 dissolved bones were given to each acre. The yield was, in 

 some instances, 35 tons an acre ; the average about 25 tons. 



