236 



The Cov.ntry Gcntlcinaiis Magazine 



Cheviot breeding we have only to name Mr 

 ElHot, Hyndhope, and for Border Leicesters, 

 Mr Stark, Mellendean, and Mr Simson, 

 Courthill. Tlie houses are elegant, the 

 gardens well laid out and neatly kept, the 

 hedge-rows are trim, the steadings are com- 

 modious and conveniently situated near the 

 centre of the farms, the land is rich and well 

 cultivated, and the whole country wears an 

 aspect of elegance, comfort, and even opu- 

 lence, not excelled in any part of Scot- 

 land. Rents are not quite so high as in some 

 parts of the Lothians ; but they average about 

 45 s. an acre. The highest rent paid for any 

 arm on the estate is j[,2Zoo for Redden in 

 the parish of Sprouston. The next is Caver- 

 ton in Eckford parish, p^iSoo; then Ker- 

 chesters, _;^i7oo; next Kersknowe, ^1550; 

 and Cessford, ^1544- 



The farm of Redden is on the south side 

 of the Tweed, by which it is bounded on the 

 north, and it extends on the east to the 

 English border at Carham Burn. Some of 

 the fields are about 60 acres in extent, per- 

 fectly square in form, quite level, and admir- 

 ably fitted for working with a steam-plough, 

 which we understand the enterprizing tenant, 

 Mr Dunn, intends to procure. It is good 

 wheat soil, and the produce of one field is 

 known to have paid the whole rent of the 

 farm, when wheat Avas high-priced about 

 18 1 5. The farm is at present worked by 

 about twelve pair of horses, and, like others 

 on the same estate and in the same district, 

 it is worked on what is called the five-course 

 rotation, which includes a combination of 

 stock and crop husbandry. The ordinary 

 arrangement is oats, then turnips or beans 

 with a small portion of potatoes ; next, wheat, 

 barley, or oats, along with which grass is 

 sown ; then clover, and finally pasture. A 

 portion of the young grass is saved for hay, 

 but some of it is pastured the first year, and 

 all of it the second. Even the portion that 

 is kept for hay is pastured up till about the 



close of May, so that when dry weather sets 

 in, as it sometimes does at this season, the 

 hay crop is comparatively light. During 

 winter, however, oat and bean straw are used 

 as fodder. The feeding of cattle prevails to 

 a great extent, and steadings are so arranged 

 as to feed sometimes over a hundred. At 

 Redden there is a steam-thrashing machine ; 

 but there is also a water power of peculiar 

 construction. The water supply is consider- 

 ably lower than the steading, but a wheel is 

 placed so as to receive its full force, and from 

 this a shaft on an inclined plane drives the 

 machinery about 200 yards distant. 



iYs previously noticed, the tendency for 



many years has been to increase the size of 



farms ; and we may say, also, there has been 



a constant demolition of surplus houses. One 



or two villages remain in a most dilapidated 



state, the only excuse for which is the merely 



nominal rent at which houses are held. Every 



farm has a number of houses, which are 



generally comfortable and commodious, and 



are inhabited by the steward, the shepherds, 



and ploughmen. The ploughmen are chiefly 



paid in kind, but in average seasons their 



" gains " will be equivalent to ;i^38 to ^^40 



a-year. The ordinary wage is a cow kept 



summer and winter, about 1800 lineal yards 



of potatoes planted, 10 bolls of oats, 4 bolls 



of barley, i boll of beans, a free house and 



garden, one month's food during harvest, 



and about five pounds in money. Formerly 



every hind was required to keep a woman or 



stout boy for farm work, called the " bond- 



ager," but with a great effort the hinds last 



year managed to get quit of this imposition 



to a great extent. It is still requisite that 



workers be kept, but by proper arrangement 



a farmer can manage to secure two or more 



workers in one house, so that others may go 



free. The payment for field-workers is at 



the rate of six to seven shillings a-week. 



There are no bothies in the district for either 



men or women. 



