C 263 ] 



property, which, however, received a check in the 

 troublefome reign of Charles Iftj but notwith- 

 ftanding this, it again became doubled in fifty years; 

 for it appears from the furvey taken by Cromwell's 

 commifTioners, that the marfli-lands I am fpeaking 

 of were vakied in 2s. 6d. per acre. Soon after 

 King William's acceflion to the throne, viz. in 

 1688, the land-tax was laid on as it (lands at prefent, 

 which is about five fl,iillings per acre on an average. 

 In the fubfequent fifty years, eftates again became 

 doubled ; for I remember well in the Scotch i-ebel- 

 lion, in 1745, that the common price of pafture-land 

 was ten {hillings per acre. From this period agri- 

 culture became known and praftifed, infomuch that 

 every feven years leafe, from that time to the prefent, 

 increafed the annual rent five Ihillings per acre; fo 

 that the prefent annual value of thefe eftates may be 

 eftimated at 45s. per ftatute acre upon an average. 



As to paflure-land, we may obferve, that about 

 one-tenth of it was in its highefl degree pf culture 

 fifty years fince; and the only difference in agricul- 

 ture which I have remarked on thofe lands is in the 

 mode of draining, for when I firfl remember the 

 gutters were dug two feet wide, and one foot deep ; 

 whereas the prefent improved praftice is to cut the 

 drain ten inches wide and twenty inches deep. 



In recurring to my minutes when I firft began to 

 mcafure and value land, in 1755, I find the follow- 

 ing 



