1804. Ret r aspect ive View of jigricjiltuvc—Cuifhiiccs. - 7 



where tlie tcnnnts are poor iii circumstances, have little skill 

 in Agriculture, and have not evca cattle or instvunients of hu.s- 

 bandry calculated for carrying on any proper system of culti- 

 vation. A plan hovv'ever has been fallen u,.v'jn, wliicli tcnda la 

 some measure to obviate tliese ol.»jectioas. Some small tenants 

 jiave been prevailed upon tu enter into an aoreemcnt v.lth a 

 considerable farmer in their neighbourlicocl, by w'liich lis c;n- 

 e^ai^es to plough for them, tiie waste land attached to tluir 

 iarms, at the rate of fifteen sliillings per Scotcii acre, the price 

 not to be exacted, until a t.vcj»'e montli after the vork is ex- 

 ecuted, when tltey will be enabled to pay the expeiice from the 

 crops they raise. The plan has beea so much approved of. 

 That the small tenants in one district, havq had about 50 acre-3 

 of waste land ploughed for them on this system, in the course 

 of this season. Their own miserable cattle and instruments of 

 husbandry, could never have broken up such a soil, but v/hen 

 once it is properly ploughed, they are able to manage it toler- 

 ably v/ell by their own exertions ; and in process of time, they 

 will probably become more opulent, and abler to do justice to 

 their farms. 



8. Towjis and Killa.f^cs. 



The increase of tov^ms arid villages, is one of the surest 

 signs of the prosperity of a country; and in this important par- 

 ticular, the county of Caithness is not deticieiU. Several hou- 

 ses have been built this season in the. new town of Thurso. 

 The village of Castleton, erected by Mr Trail, goes on pros- 

 perously; and it is impossible to pass through -thit thriving 

 place, without feeling much satisfaction^, at the industry that 

 seems to prevail there, and the contented looks, and comfort- 

 able circumstances of the inhabitants. A new A^illa^^e called 

 Erodies-Towm, from the name of its spirited founder, is rising 

 on the ea-tern coast of the county, in a situarion admirably 

 calculated for the herring fishing. Some progress is making 

 in the erection of a yiliage at Halkirk, aid it is expected, 

 next year, that the British Fishing Society, will make some 

 exertions, towards establishing a fishin?- settlement on the 

 feu it has obtained from Sir Benjamin Dunbar in tlie neioli- 

 bourhood of Wick. 



9. Roads and HaTbGurs* 



The attention that has lately been paid to the improve- 

 ment of the northern parts, of Scotland, must do infinite credit 

 to the legislature of this courary, if the measures they have 

 chalked out are prosecuted with proper zeal and energy^ A 

 foundation has thus been laid, for a new system, not of foreigr, 

 A 4 hui 



