?00 Agrictiitural InU'ir:gcnc; — Scothnjd. -Feb* 



great number of fwinc are fattened in this diftridl ; and many of our 

 fmall farmers were in ufe of paying their rents with the produce of this 

 ftock. Hay is 6d. and yd. per Itone of 24 lib. 'which is not a price 

 much more than its worth for Utter. Mafons and carpenters are 2s, 

 per day with viituiil;-:, nnd hibourers is- 2d. with vi6iu'als, or is. 8d. 

 and 2S. without them. If produce continues at fuch reduced, and la- 

 bour at fiicli increafed rates, the fituation of farmers in every diilricl 

 will foon be truly diftrelTiag. ' 



TiifMa/e ^L'lrtt'rly Rt-port. 



The weatlicr continuing remarkably good fro*n the beginning of Au- 

 tumn to the firll of December, harveft work was not oiiiy finiuied in 

 the moft fatisfactoiy manner, but wir.ter ploughing coniiderably ad- 

 vanced before any interruption was experienced. Much labour was of 

 courfe perioiTned without confumi^ig fodder ; as the foggage, though 

 far from being luxuriant, furnifhed a longer fupply of food than cuf- 

 tomaiy to the horfcs and wintering catll^?, which, as our crop was of 

 little bulk, proved a favourable circumllance. Even at this time paf- 

 tui-es have a frelTi appearance, as the frofls have always been accompa- 

 nied v.ith a flight covering of fnow ; and this has aUb pernntted a full 

 life of the tuniip crop, both for ftall and field confumption. Perhaps- 

 tliis crop has exceeded the expectation of our farmers more than ever 

 remembered, as the progrefs in bulbing, during tlie months of Ocftober 

 and November, furpaffed ver)^ much t-hat of fonner years. This fcems 

 to prove that turnips receive much nourifliment from the atmofphcre ;, 

 for, in the above months, fo little rain fell as icarcely to moiilen the 

 furface of tiie drills ; fo that when the turnip was pulled, in the tirll of 

 November^ for houfe-feeding, the root came out as dry as if it had 

 flood among afhes. The crop, however, was then making rapid pro- 

 grefs y the weather was mild, and the night dews copious ; to whicly 

 caufes their uncommon progrefs may be attributed. 



Our grain crops, though fcanty in llraw, are turning out tolcrabW 

 well, both in bam and miln, and, I believe, will produce as many bolls as 

 gained lail feafon. Oats in general yield meal for corn. Barley and 

 bear are good in quality, but not in demand, which muft greatly dif- 

 courage agricnitural- improvement. In this county, almolt the whole of 

 the arable land, being adapted to turnips, that root is univerfally raifed, 

 and con fumed by flieep ; by v^-liich means tlie foil is greatly enriched. 

 "We look forward to the fucceeding crops (barley and oats) for indem- 

 nification of our cxpence ; but as neither the foil nor climate admit of 

 wheat, and we have no permanent market for hay, without driving it to 

 a diftance, which the bulky nature of the article will not allow ; there- 

 fore, if our demand for barley fails, oats mufl in futiu-e be the only 

 grain cultivated. "We raife confiderable quantities of peas, in the lower 

 diilricts of the county ; but our views in cultivating this grain are con- 

 fined more to ameliorating than lucrative crops. 



A regular rotation of cropping has been fuccefsfully adopted upon 

 many farms for fomo years pad ; and more than double rent is now 



gi\^Q 



