l"8 Ohfervations on the Jart^ 



by one tenant, who employs only one fliepherd. There were alfo 

 feveral fmall lairds : their lands are loll in the large farms, their 

 names extinguifiied, and their manfions confounded in the duft. 



^* Though this lafl caufe operates mod llrongly in depopulating 

 the pari Hies where the monopoly of farms is frequent, yet it is by 

 fome made a queftion, Whether it tends to depopulate the country 

 at large, in any great meafure ? No doubt, the towns and villages 

 will increafe as the country parifhes dimiiiiih ; and therefore, in this 

 fliftrift, the villages of Yetholm and Morbattle have of late confi- 

 derably augmented in the number of inhabitants and houfes ;* yet it 

 does not feetn to be in the fame proportion as the country diftrifts 

 around them have diminifhed. In this parifli, where the real rent is 

 2720!., were the farms four times the prefent number, namely, 56, 

 or the lands divided into farms of 50I. ^ach, which would amount ta 

 much the fame number, at leaft 54 ; in this cafe, there would be 54 

 or 56 tenants in the parifh, inftead of 14, the prefent number ; and 

 each of whom might have a large family of his own, and employ a 

 fhepherd, who might alfo have a family ; and the other inhabitants 

 and cottagers might be the fame in number as at prefent. This, 

 furcly, would make a prodigious odds in favour of the population 

 of the parlHi, and afford alfo a fufBcient extra number, who would 

 find it neceffary to withdraw to the towns and villages. Country 

 places, too, are more favourable than towns to the rearing of young 

 children : here they are healthier, and thrive better. — Beiides, hinds 

 and fhepherds, driven from their native abodes and manner of life, 

 will be difheartened, and difcouraged from marrying : it will be with 

 difficulty they can afterwards find the means of fubfiftence. It Is 

 obfervable, that in England, which is far more populous and richer 

 than Scotland, the monopoly of farms is little known. In many 

 places of Scotland, particularly the> diftrltl to which Hounam be- 

 longs, a fingle individual has not only united four or five farms into 

 one, in one parlfii, but has feveral farms united in this manner, in 

 different parifhes. Thefe circumftances, taken together, furely make 

 it very evident, that the mcnopoly of farms, and increafe of pa{lur= 

 age, is a great Injury to the population of the country at large. '* 



The caufes above afligned for the decreafe of population, viz. 

 the praftice of letting the land in great farms, and the mode 

 of agriculture adopted, of laying down the whole lands into 

 grafs,'are oblioufly diftinct and feparate, and have no conne- 

 xion with each other ; for the land may be let in fmall farms, 

 and the grafs hufbandry recommended by Mr R. remain; or, it 

 may be continued in tillage, and flill large farms be the preva- 

 lent praftice. It does not follow, that a large farmer fhould 

 have a greater proportion of grafs than his fmaller neighbour : 

 — No j this is regulated by inclination, by foil, and by the ftate 

 of markets ; and to the two lall every good farmer will pay 

 particular attention, whatever may be the fize of his poffeiEoil. 



