Ten Years of Emt Lothian Farmiiuj. 101 



Since then more manure has been purchased, and more artificial 

 food consumed by stock ; new and important implements have 

 been introduced, and agriculture has progressed in various direc- 

 tions ; whilst, on the other hand, it cannot be denied that in 

 some points it has retrograded. But the chief features of change 

 are the absolute, as well as the relative, value of cattle and corn ; 

 and, aljove all, the position and prospects of the occupiers of the 

 soil. We envy the writer of liSOo his pleasing task. He was 

 enabled, with perfect accuracy, to write as follows : — • 



" Never since the close of the war (1815) has the agricultural 

 interest been in a more prosperous state in this country tlian at 

 present. There is, we believe, less deduction from the rent 

 covenanted for, than has ever been previously known. Perhaps 

 there are not ten farmers in the county who are not paying the 

 rent originally agreed on. We believe, also, that there is less of 

 arrears than has been at any period, certainly since 181G." 



This prosperity, which continued for some years after 1853, 

 owed its origin in a great degree to the rebound which followed 

 the panic caused by the loss of the protective duties, but it was 

 subsequently maintained by more substantial causes. There 

 were several good harvests, that of 1852 being undoubtedly the 

 best ever reaped, the nearest approach to it being that of 1835, 

 whilst the crop of 1852 commanded a high price, wheat averaging 

 755. V^d. per quarter in Haddington market. Then followed, 

 the stimulating influence of the Crimean war, and the potato 

 trade (which may be said not to have existed in East Lothian 

 before 1850) reached its height, dealers purchasing the crop as 

 it grew, with all risks, and the expense of lifting, at 30/. to 40/. 

 an acre, and paying to individual farmers from 1000/. to 4000/. 

 or even 5000/. Land rose prodigiously in value, and rents pro- 

 bably reached their culminating point about 1855, when farms 

 were let at an increase which ranged from twenty to a hundred 

 per cent. 



Then the tide began to turn, and the reverse side of the 

 picture appeared in sad contrast ^to the brightness of the other. 

 Farmers starting with leases of that date, and saddled with rents 

 which experience has proved to be from 20 to 30 per cent, too 

 high, are certainly in no enviable position ; and generally the 

 evidence lately taken l^efore a Koyal Commission on the subject 

 of Hypothec (law of distress), shows that for several years, most 

 farmers have been annually losing from half a rent to a whole 

 one. 



In addition to over-rent, the farmer has had to contend with 

 a sequence of Inid seasons. The harvests of 185G and 1857 were 

 to a great extent destroyed by rain, and since then many minor 

 misfortunes have befallen the cro])s. Those of 185*J and 18G4 



