l:8o4« On the Husband} y of Ayrshire, 77 



not have been fufiicient without another very cfit ntla- one which 

 took place foon afterwards, and that was an application to Par- 

 liament about the year 1774 or 75, for an ait to commute the 

 Itatute labour, and to obliji^e the tenants to pay il. 5s. out of 

 every looL Scots of valuation, for making and keeping the 

 roads through the county in repair ; and for erei^ling turnpikes. 

 The confequence of this was, that, in a very ihort fpacc, 

 moil excellent roads were made in all directions ; and it may 

 now be iafely alfertcd, that there is perhaps no county in Scot- 

 land better provided with good roads than tlie county of Ayr. 

 The beneficinl effeAs of thefe arrangements were foon very con- 

 fpicuous» The county which Mr Robertfon juHly termed ' a 



* wild and dreary common,' allumed an entire new face. It 

 foon was every where inclofed, and in the lower parts with 

 ditches, which aCted as drains to the ftrong clay and level lands, 

 hedges, and hedge-rows, and belts were planted, both for fences, 

 Ihelter and ornament ; and the vaft proportion of land fown down 

 every year with rye-grafs gave a beautiful verdure to tlie face 

 of the country, which in poetical language might be faid to caufe 

 it to iing and rejoice. 



Were a perfon, who had long been accullomed to contemplate 



* this wild and dreary common,' and its wretched inhabitants, 

 both men and bealls, now to itand upon an eminence ; to look 

 around, and furvey the beautiful plains of Kyle and Cunningham, 

 with a conliderable part of Carrick, all under his eye, to fee the 

 hedges, belts and clumps of planting rifen to confiderable height, 

 the tields brought into regularity and order, and fpirit and a6li- 

 vity every where difplayed upon fomething like fyllematic prin- 

 ciples, it would afford to him one of the molt beautiful views 

 imaginable, — it would be the renovation of youth ; — nothing 

 more delightful can be conceived, except a country where agri- 

 culture is carried on in a better flyle, and where fomething of 

 real fyftem univerfally prevails. We have not yet completely 

 attained to that better style ; much has been done, but we are 

 far, very far, behind tliese happier climes. 



The progress of agriculture in this county, during the space 

 of the ten years last past, has been accelerated in a considera- 

 ble degree. This is perhaps owing, in a great measure, to the 

 situation of the country durino- tliat time. The last war in 

 xvhich the nation was engaged, doubled, at least, the national 

 debt ; but the character of the nation, rose in estimation a- 

 mong the other powers of Europe ; and the constitution being 

 'established upon such a firm basis, gave entire security to all 

 the debt we liad contracted. From this state of internal secu- 

 tity; from the ascendency which we had acquired in the prose- 

 cution of the war, and the immense floating capital which had 



been 



