COUNTY OF STIRLING. 157 



occupiers in the parish. The highest rent is £772 for Meikle 

 Binns, on the Dake's estate. This farm, occupied by Mr Tod, 

 is elevated in position, and is wholly pastoral, except an expanse 

 of meadow which is cut for hay. Other farms in the upper 

 part of the Endrick valley, such as Lurg, Spittalhill, and Tod- 

 holes, are wholly pastoral, with the exce^^tion of some small 

 fields near the steadings. In Balfron there are 257 occupiers, of 

 whom only twenty-one pay more than £100, and eiglity-one are 

 valued at less than £5 a year. In the town of Ealfron there is 

 some cotton manufacturing. In the parish of Drymen there is 

 a proportion of cultivation, bat the greater part of it is pastoral. 

 Buchanan Castle, the residence of the Duke of Montrose, is 

 situated in a splendid park, hnely wooded, and looking down to 

 the broad, level, and grassy haughs through which the Endrick 

 here winds toward Loch Lomond. The grounds are well kept, 

 and the fences connected with tlie policy and home farm are 

 carefully kept. The county is bounded for about fifteen miles 

 by Loch Lomond ; and the principal islands in the loch also 

 belong to it. Inch Caillach, or the Xun's Island, is chiefly 

 covered with oak trees. Inchfad and Inchcruin are arable, and 

 there are many islets of small size. The shores of the loch are 

 skirted with valuable coppice wood, consisting of oak, mixed 

 with ash, birch, and alder. It is all the property of the Duke, 

 and is cut for the bark every twenty-one years or tliereby. 

 Patches of arable land, of a sandy soil, occur ; but the greater 

 part of the district is fit only for pasture. The parish of 

 Buchanan is estimated to contain 41,598 acres, of which only 

 2800 are arable, 34,548 hill pasture, and 4250 woodland. It 

 belongs wholly to the Duke, but the Glasgow Commissioners have 

 a foothold in connection with the Loch Katrine waterworks. The 

 largest rent in the parish is £1100, paid by A. Orr Ewing, Esq., 

 M.P., for the lands of Ben Lomond and Blairvockie, which are 

 pastured with blackfaced sheep. The rents of other tenants are 

 nearly all under £500 a year; not more than half a dozen 

 exceed £300 ; and thirty-nine tenants are under £100 of yearly 

 rent. 



Farm Lnildings, Machinenj, and Inijyienients. 



In the eastern district of the county many of the farm houses 

 are good, and some of those recently built are very siii)erior. 

 There is, however, great diversity in farm houses in dillerent 

 districts, and even on dillerent farms in the same district. Cot- 

 tages in the east of the county are generally fair, but the num- 

 ber is scarcely BuOlcient. Labourers can, however, be obtained 

 from the villages when reipiired. In other parts of the county 

 there is need for ini[)rovement as regards dwelling-houses and 



