i8o4. Retrospective P^ieiu of Agriculture— Caithness, a 



q. Mr Joliii Rclcl of Heathfield near Tluirso, laid down a 

 small field of bear wliicli he could not t;et sown till the idtli 

 of June last: it was cut down on the 24th October, and pro- 

 duced upwards often returns of good rDcrchantable grain. It 

 would probably have produced two or three seeds more, had 

 it been sown earlier; but this experiment tends to prove, that 

 in very unfavourabk' seasons, a crop of bear may be laid down 

 inucli later than is conuuonly imagined, and with tlie prospect 

 of a handsome return. 



4. A Limev/orli is intended to bo carried on on the estate of 

 Major Innes of Sandside, which it is hoped will be a source of 

 '^reat improvement to all that nei;^hbourhood. 



Conclusion* 



SomcpJC!"'lIces,it is said, are entertained against the publica- 

 tion of such accounts of local improvements, as if they origi- 

 nated from other motives, than a sincere and ardent wish to 

 promote the prosperity and interests of the country. But how 

 could it otlicrwise be known by the public, what is doing in 

 so remote a district as Caithness, which is so seldom visited 

 by strangers ? and can it be questioned, whether these hints 

 may not in various respects contribute to the benefit of other 

 counties? Is it of no consequence that the success of the Che- 

 viot breed of sheep, beyond the possibility of doubt, should 

 be spread over all the Highland districts, and the way point- 

 ed out, by which the rent and value of that extensive 

 tract of country, may in many cases be increased six-fold ? Is 

 it nothing to have facts authentically published, regarding the 

 various modes of improving waste lands, by some of which, the 

 expence of the improvement is repaid by the first crop that 

 \.\i<z ground produces ? And is no benefit to be derived, from a 

 knowledfre of the success atteiidincr the introduction of new 



o o 



breeds of cattle, new sorts of grain, new kinds of grass, &:c.? 

 Above all, can it be doubted, that the country at large is inter- 

 ested, wdiennew towns and villages are erected, and new manufac- 

 tures and other improvements successfully carried on? Instead 

 therefore of objecting to the publication of such accounts »3 

 unnecessary, which is all that can be urged, for it is impossibl-i 

 that •sXiij detriment can arise from them, it would be much 

 better for public spirited individuals, to promote, as much aj 

 possible, the adoption of such a plan, in all the various districts 

 in the kingdom ; in order that experiments happily adopted i;i 

 one county, may prove the source of similar improvements in 

 other places. 



Edinhurghj i^ll Xov. 1803, Jppendix 



