124 Poftfcnpt to Scotifj IntelFigence. Feb. 1803. 



is approaching to an extreme that muft prove dangerous to the profperity 

 of the country. The farmer becomes difcouraged, improvement ceafes, 

 and with it the land becomes lefs productive. Rents cannot be paid ; 

 the proprietors in confequence become poor themfelves ; and, from a want 

 of energy in a country fo dillrefled, the greateil evils may be dreaded, 

 A fcarcity may again raife prices immoderately high, and that at a time 

 when manufa6lurers, from a habit of idlenefs acquired in thefe plentiful 

 times, are unfitted for meeting dlftr<>rs when the hour of calamity comes 

 round. It would be a wife mcafure therefore to bring the rate of wages 

 and the price of provifions nearly upon an equal fcale, as this would tend 

 to the real int^reft of the manufad\urer, as well as that of the farmer and 

 proprietor. Jan. 20. 



ArgyllJJjire ^inrter/y Report. 



In a county which is chiefly devoted to pafturage, the agricultural Re- 

 port at this feafon of the year muft be very circumfcribed. After a 

 rainy Harveft, the Winter fet in mild and dry ; fo that the provender was 

 long faved, therefore likely to prove abundant. The cattle are alfo in 

 good order, and the prices and demand for them expetled to be as great 

 as ever. For the two-year-olds of next May, fome have already refufed 

 lol. — A. great part of the Bear crop is, and will continue to be con- 

 verted into whiilcy, and fmuggled into the Low country, till the men in 

 p jvver fliall think proper to licenfe fmall ftills as formerly ; a meafure 

 that would conduce not a little to the improvement of the health and 

 iBoral? of the people, and to the increafe of the revenue. In the more 

 arable dillrlds of the county, not a great deal has yet been ploughed. 

 Our farmers are not fufiiciently fenfible of the benefit of froft, to moffy, 

 flifF, and lea grounds, which ought to be turned up before it fets in ; 

 which it feldom does in the lower parts of this county till about the 

 middle of January. For fome time the weather with us, as in other 

 parts, has been remarkably ilormy ; and for eight days paft, the froft has 

 b ^cn very keen, and the cold very fevere. This day a gentle thaw begins 

 to unlock the eartii, and to invite the plough. Jan. 18. 



*^* For Notices to Correfpondents^ fee page 3. of the Cover. 

 No. XIV. will be publlflicd on Monday the 2d of May. 



