1B03. Agi'icuhural JntelUgence — Scotland. 479 



the time of harvcft, is a phenomenon in this part of the country, which 

 is expofed to the damps and ra%'ages of tlie Atlantic Ocean. It will be 

 inmeccfTary to add, that the crop lias been cut down and got into the 

 barn-yard in the very beft order ; and from the kindly nounrtiing wea- 

 ther in the months of June, July, and Auguit, there is evei-y reafon td 

 fuppofe that tlie quality will be good. Any little trials that have been 

 made, juftify this opinion. From the fevere fhock, however, which it 

 received in the months of April and May, the crop, in point of quan- 

 tity, will not exceed an average one, if it fliall amount to it ; both the 

 wheat and the oats being rather thin ; as is the cafe alfo, in many places, 

 with the turnips-: But the fuperior quality will probably compenfatc 

 for the defe<:l: in quantity. Grain mru-kets have remained with little va- 

 riation from the lall quarter, though rather lower, upon the whole, than 

 the high rents, price of labour, and additional public burdens, would 

 require, in order to balance the capital and the trouble expended in a«. 

 griculture, with the degree of rifk that muft always attend it- With 

 regard to the cattle and iheep markets throughout this part of the coun- 

 try, there feems to be a total flagnation, and many graziers muft no 

 ■doubt fuffer confiderably. Various caufes are affigi>ed for this ; and 

 perhaps all of them contribute more or lefs to this deprefiion ; fuch as, 

 the diiTcrent banks contra6ling their credit ; the fevere drought in 

 England leffening the "winter keep ; and the ftagnation in manufac- 

 tures all over the country. The price of butcher meat is ftill dear e- 

 XK)ugh to the confumer ;; but it would have been dehrable, that the Ihock 

 had not been fo fudden ; for when any one defcription of people fuffer, 

 others muil fuffer with thein, according to the old Latin adage, ' Nam 

 •tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet. ' 



Ldter from Falhtrk, O&oher 15. 



' Among-il the numerous quarterly reports fent you, I have regretted 

 tliat there has not yet appeared in your Magazine one for Stirlingihiroj 

 as it is a county of fome importance in many refpeifts. The corn mar* 

 ket at Falkirk is one of the moil connderable in Scotland ; it may in- 

 deed be called the Haddington of the weft. The diftri<?l: of the Carfe, 

 in point of mere fertility, is not exceeded by any in the kingdom, and, 

 •even under its prefent management, produces weighty crops, and aftbrde 

 iiigh rents. The annual cattle markets or tryfts at Falkirk, have long 

 been reckoned the moft confiderable in Scotland. In cafe you may 

 not^ however, be furnifhed v\ith a more general quarterly report for the 

 county, I fend you the following Iketch for this neighbourhood. 



* From the almoft unparalleled fine weather v.'hich has prevailed, I be- 

 lieve generally over the kingdom, the operations of harveft have been 

 earned forward with an uncommon degree of celerity, at the fame tim.^ 

 in a very fatisfaftory way, and are now completed in the moft pcrfedt 

 manner. The moft palpable ignorance, or inexcufable indolence, could 

 fcarcely have gone wrong this year. The ftack-yards have been all 

 clofcd fome time, and they afford a charming profped. Wheat is i^ 



^ s 8 4 vejy 



