164 



The Country Gentleman' s Magazine 



Three counties had above 100 and under 200 persons 

 to every square mile, viz., Aberdeen, 124.18 persons ; 

 Haddington, 134.94; Ayr, 174.79- 



Three counties had above 200 and under 300 persons 

 to each square mile, viz., Stirling, 210.53 persons ; 

 Dumbarton, 218.14; and Forfar, 266.93. 



Two counties only had above 300 and under 400 

 persons to each square mile, viz., Fife, 313.21 ; and 

 Linlithgow, 323.22 persons. 



Only one county had above 400 and under 500 per- 

 sons to each square mile, viz., Clackmannan, 476.78 

 persons. 



Three counties, however, had above 800 and under 

 900 persons to each square mile, viz., Renfrew, 854.82 

 persons; Lanark, 861.01 ; and Edinburgh, 894.59 

 persons to a square mile. 



These figures conclusively prove that there 

 is still land enough and to spare in many 

 cultivable counties of Scotland. Time was, 

 according to Goldsmith — not a very reliable 

 political economist, and perhaps a somewhat 

 dubious natural historian — when in Ireland 



" Every rood of ground maintained its man," 



but here in Scotland we have as many as 

 112 roods to each person, and some of it not 

 very bad land either. We scarcely think, 

 however, that a sub-division of the soil such 



as he — 



" Who wrote like an angel. 

 But talked like poor Poll," 



desired, would contribute much to the 

 " greatest happiness of the greatest number." 

 The reporters do not think that what has 

 been sentimentally described as " the depopu- 

 lation" of the Highlands has been mis- 

 chievous or detrimental to the country. On 

 the contrary, they express their belief that their 

 exodus has been advantageous alike to those 

 who migrated or emigrated and to those who 

 remained. They have not been led away by 

 the poetic fancy of Professor Blackie ; they 

 have been guided in the expression of their 

 views by the stern realities of facts. They 

 have not — as the Grecian of Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity has done in this matter — said with the 

 French philosopher, when it was proved that 

 his theory was not in accordance with facts, 

 declare, that in such a case it was " All the 

 worse for the facts." They have regarded facts 

 as Burns did — 



" Stubborn chiels that winna ding, 

 And dauma be disputed." 



The reporters say on this head : — 



The insular portions of Scotland have been steadily 

 diminishing in population for the last twenty years. 



There can be no doubt that this is a healthy state 

 of matters ; for the able report of Sir John M'Neill 

 to the Board of Supervision, "on the state of the 

 Highlands and islands of Scotland," published in 

 1 85 1, made it apparent that " the population of these 

 islands (as also of the Highlands) had outgrown their 

 means of subsistence," and that " if henceforward the 

 population is to depend on the local resources, some 

 fearful calamity will probably occur before many 

 years, unless a portion of the inhabitants of these 

 parishes remove to where they can find the means of 

 subsistence in' greater abundance, and with greater 

 certainty, than they can find them where they now 

 are." 



The report goes on to shew us that the 

 population is gradually decreasing in the 

 rural districts. 



In 1 86 1 the population of the rural districts consti- 

 tuted 46.39 per cent, of the population, but only 

 42.87 per cent, in 1871. 



This is the natural result of the increase of manu- 

 factures and mining. Wherever these are established, 

 they draw in from the rural districts around that re- 

 dundant population who could not procure a sufficient 

 livelihood from agricultural work, so that the rural 

 parts are becoming, what some would term, depopu- 

 lated, and the farmers have great difficulty in procur- 

 ing sufficient hands for the extra labour required 

 during the periods of hoeing and harvesting the crops. 



Beside the cause given for the decrease 

 between 1861 and 1871, there is another not 

 mentioned by the reporters, and that is the 

 vast amount of labour-saving machinery which 

 within the last decade has been introduced 

 into farm economy, dispensing alike with 

 human and equine bone and muscle. 



Another matter in the report extremely 

 interesting at the present time, is that about 

 house accommodation. We extract the senti- 

 ments of the reporters on this point : — 



Ever since attention has been directed to inquiries 

 into the causes which influence the health of the popu- 

 lation, it has been recognized that the mortality of a 

 district held a tolerably constant proportion to the 

 state of crowding of its inhabitants. This had been 

 not only recognized with regard to the massing of the 

 people in towns, but also with regard to the ovecrowd- 

 ing in rooms. 



Since attention was directed to the evils of over- 

 crowding, and to the impossibility of the common 

 decencies of life being observed where adults of both 

 sexes were obliged to inhabit the same room, an im- 



