Cultivation of the Soil. 21 



broken up it was considered fit to carry another crop 

 before it required to lie in grass again. The laying 

 out in grass consisted, of course, of merely letting the 

 land alone without ploughing or sowing in a corn crop, 

 till the surface grew green ~4vith whatever species of 

 weeds were indigenous to the soil. A specific descrip- 

 tion, applicable to a somewhat later date, sets forth 

 that when the " outfields" would no longer pay for 

 seed and labour, " they were then allowed to remain 

 in a state of absolute sterility, producing little else 

 than thistles and other weeds, till, after having been 

 rested in this state for some years, the farmer thought 

 proper to bring them again under cultivation, when, 

 from the mode of management before described, a 

 few scanty crops were obtained." 



Before adverting to individual views of agricultural 

 improvement, as held by persons taking a prominent 

 interest in the subject, a brief glance at the general 

 state of cultivation during the century may be taken. 

 And it is a curious illustration of the slow rate of pro- 

 gress in those days to find that when the close of the 

 eighteenth century was almost come, though not a 

 few energetic improvers had arisen and set a better 

 example, exactly the same modes of tillage were in 

 almost universal use over a great part of the country, 

 as at the beginning of that century. Of this we have 

 abundant evidence in the pages of the Old Statistical 

 Account of Scotland, begun to be published in 1791, 

 and actually completed in 1798, in twenty volumes, 

 through the heroic perseverance of Sir John Sinclair, 

 by whom it was originated, and its publication super- 

 intended, the reports for the several parishes being 

 drawn up chiefly by the ministers. The detailed 

 testimony of one of these witnesses may be accepted 

 as nearly sufficient ; and we take the statement of the 

 minister of Alford, in Aberdeenshire, who is very 

 definite and copious. Writing in 1795, he says : 

 " The infield or intown lands are constantly in white 



