^o^ Vieiv of the S'ltuatlcn of Farmers^ ^c Nor. 



they were In the beginning of ray time, without a chimney, and 

 u'ith a bit of fieve and yolk of glafs to admit the freih ajr and 

 the light of day, and an old bonnet fhufFed with draw to keep 

 them out, they are now pieafant, cheerful habitations, with 

 cafement windows of a proper fize. 



The ftables — Good G — ! how often have I been alarmed and 

 frightened out of my fleep by the fighting and fcreaming of a 

 dozen of horfes (landing loofe in the fame undivided ftable, and 

 the refponfes of the courfer thundering in his travife in the byre 

 beyond the partition.— I ficken at the recoUeclion of the byre, 

 and turn from it with difguft. 



The^ccconomy of their families, and their modes of living, 

 are changed greatly for the better. Farmers here have been long 

 on this fide of that forry mefs, on which tlie poor hufbandman 

 fubfiits in many counties, and that ham and egg dinner, and 

 larely a fowl, on which he regales a friend. Their larders are 

 regularly and well fupplied. My mind is full of antiquity, and 

 fo frequently recurs to diftant times, that I am afliamed of it : 

 it looks fo like an oftentatious difplay of extenfive reading, which 

 I am fure I was never defervedly accuied of. Herodotus in- 

 forms us, that the Scythians were the firft t6 difcover, what 

 every cat in the country knows now-a-days, that the be ft of the 

 rriilk rifes to the top. I believe feme of the more early Greek 

 diaietls wants even a word for butter. That the richeft of the 

 r.iilk comes lad from the cow, is well known to us all; for who 

 has not heard of afierings ? But it was referved to my much 

 efteemcd and very ingenious friend Dr Anderfon, to afcertain, 

 by actual experiment, that the lafl of the milk fometimes con- 

 tains fixteen times more butter than what comes firft. Yet wc 

 find that great blockhead Polyphemus firfl milking his ewes, and 

 afterwards fubmitting their teats to the lambs. It is unpardon- 

 able that this fliould Hill continue to be the practice in many 

 parts of AyrOiire and in Galloway, where the calf is not per- 

 mitted to fuck before the woman has done milking. This mat- 

 ter is ordered better in the Highlands, where the practice is 

 cuire the reverfe. 



Their hen-houfe and dairy afford at all times an agreeable va- 

 riety of excellent food. Their tables abound with the necefTaries 

 of life, are e^'ery day comfortably ferved, and, upon occafions, 

 fuch as any man might fit down to. 



Their kail-yards formerly contained little befides greens, beans, 

 peas, and the more ordinary pot-herbs. Now, we need not look 

 tar for regular gardens, with variety and plenty of excellent fmall 

 fruit, and walls covered with iine trees. Melon grounds and a 

 grape-houfc may be fe;.n in more inllances tlian one, and \n 



th? 



