148 THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



None of these attain a height of more than 1500 feet, and most 

 of them are covered with grass, once browsed w^ith Highland 

 cattle, now generally pastured with blackfaced sheep. In the 

 west of the county, including the large parish of Buchanan, the 

 hills belong to the primary formation, and consist chiefly of 

 micaceous schist. The highest is Ben Lomond — 3191 feet above 

 the sea-level. The base of the Killearn district is the Old Eed 

 -Sandstone, and in the higher grounds are trap, freestone, lime- 

 stone, and clay. In Fintry parish there is coal in small quan- 

 tities, and there are fragments of granite, besides whinstone, 

 freestone, redstone, jasper, and fine specimens of zeolite. The 

 north-western boundary of the great coal-field which extends 

 from St Andrews Bay to Kintyre runs along the base of the 

 Lennox Hills, and coal is worked in many parts of the east and 

 south, but nowhere in the west and north of the county. Iron- 

 stone is found in almost inexhaustible quantities, a fact. which 

 influenced Dr Eoebuck, after having examined the wdiole of 

 Scotland, to fix on the neighbourhood of Falkirk as the site for 

 the Carron Ironworks. The richest variety is found at Kilsyth. 

 Limestone in many instances accompanies the coal in two strata, 

 one above, the other below the coal, the former being always the 

 best quality. Sandstone abounds in the south and east districts, 

 and is extensively quarried. Trap rocks, especially basalt, are 

 found north-west of the coal, and rise up in nodulated hills 

 through various parts of the coal-fields. Precipitous columnar 

 cliffs and extensive ranges of basaltic colonnade exist in solitary 

 protrusions, as in the broad mass of the Lennox Hills. A 

 peculiarity of all the hills in the county on or near the carse is 

 that the rocks on the west and south-west sides are bare and 

 precipitous, while the eastern and northern sides have a gentle 

 slope, and are covered with herbage. The reason assigned is 

 that ages ago the waters of the Atlantic rolled through the low 

 oountry into the German Ocean, and, washing the soil from the 

 exposed ribs of those rocks, left it deposited on the protected 

 sides. 



Soils. 



In the county there are great diversities of soil, and the 

 different kinds have been classified as carse, dryfield, hill, moor, 

 and moss. Agriculturally, the carse occupies the foremost place, 

 -and includes some of the richest land in Scotland. It extends 

 from the junction of the county with Linlithgow to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Buchlyvie, a distance of 28 miles, with an average 

 width of 2 miles, making in all about 56 square miles, or 36,000 

 imperial acres. In general the carse land is flat, but sometimes 

 it presents a gentle slope, rising gradually toward the south 

 from the valley of the Forth. It is sometimes 30 feet deep, is 



