100 Ten Years of East Lothian Farming. 



Saxon cultivators, avIio liavo as little in common with the Gael, 

 or even with the Western Celt, as the soil has with Strath Canon, 

 or the hills of Aro^ylshire. Yet, in spite of expanses covered 

 with wheat or barley, with beans or potatoes, which may bear 

 some comparison with those of the south, differences would soon 

 be discernible in the trees and plants which indicate less of 

 summer warmth than Kent or Sussex enjoy. No hops would be 

 seen ; and although the sweet chestnut, the walnut, and the 

 acacia might appear as thriving trees, the two former here fail 

 to ripen their fruit, and the latter can seldom boast of its flowers. 

 Summer never hears the song of the nightingale ; and though 

 Christmas sees the holly bright with berries, no misletoe ever 

 clings to the oak. As regards crops, perhaps the most marked 

 difference is the almost total absence of the mangold, the place of 

 Avhich is, however, amply supplied by turnips of various kinds.* 



We propose in the present paper to give some account of the 

 fortunes of agriculture as connected with East Lothian, a portion 

 of the above-named district, during the last decade. 



Rather more than ten years ago an able article, entitled 

 " Farming in East Lothian," appeared in this Journal, written by 

 Mr. Charles Stevenson, editor of ' The North British Agriculturist.' 

 That paper gave so complete an account of the system of agri- 

 culture then practised in Haddingtonshire, that the reader may 

 safely be referred to it as the foundation and the starting-point 

 of this paper.l Some minor changes in management have of 

 course since taken place ; and experience, or the change of times, 

 has set aside one or two of the opinions expressed in 1853. 



* It is true the mangold is cultivated to some extent in the east, and still more 

 in the west of Scotland, but it occupies a small and a diminishing space as com- 

 pared to other root-crops. In warm seasons it often produces largely, but it is 

 extremely uncertain, and is verj' prone to " shoot," and run prematurely to seed. 

 It is also found a troublesome crop to secure in autumn. 



We may mention the following as a rather singular illustration of our personal 

 experience of a crop of mangold. In 1860, we had been induced to cultivate 

 it to a considerable extent ; a field of 35 acres was sown, and produced a very 

 fine crop ; continued rain in November and beginning of December prevented its 

 being secured in proper time, and on the 19tli of the latter month it was sud- 

 denly covered by an unusually heavy fall of snow, which put an end to all hope 

 of carrying it. It remained unlified during the whole winter, which was one of the 

 most severe on record, the thermometer being for some time several degrees below 

 zero, and the mangolds of course were frozen into stone. Upon being ultimately 

 carted in spring, the roots were blackened masses of soft pulp, which we at first 

 imagined were as useless as turnips when in the same condition. To our surprise 

 we found that cattle ate them with avidity, giving them a decided preference to 

 sound roots that had been properly secured from frost, and the animals throve 

 well and fattened satisfactorily upon them. Probably the same chemical result 

 may be shown by the analysis of a nearly decomposed mangold as is exhibited 

 in the case of a rotten turnip, which looks better in the chemist's figures than 

 the sound one ; but the turnip when decayed is nauseous and uneatable, while 

 the mangold, it would appear, becomes more inviting to bovine taste. 



t See vol. xiv., No. xxxii., IS.*).'!. 



