EAST LOTHIAN AGRICULTURE. 331 



produce, it becomes desirable to ascertain the proportions 

 which they contribute. It is impossible, perhaps, to fix on 

 them with accuracy in any particular case, and their combina 

 tions are variable. Endeavour, however, to obtain a clear 

 comprehension of the separate parts they perform in the manu 

 facture of human sustenance. They deeply affect the question 

 of emigration from Britain, the choice of locality elsewhere, 

 and the employment of capital and cultivation generally. 

 Farm economy is altogether depending on them, and the suc 

 cess or failure of operations intimately connected with their 

 combinations. 



The soil of East Lothian is owned in large masses by land 

 holders, who seldom contribute much towards farming except 

 building accommodation. The propertiesbeing secured to them 

 and their heirs by laws of entail, their own imprudence cannot 

 deprive them of the land, and not possessing the power of 

 disposing of it, they have little inducement to improve it. 

 Being, many of them, unacquainted with agriculture, they are 

 incapable of managing their properties, which are, conse 

 quently, placed under the charge of agents, who are generally 

 lawyers, residing in towns, without knowledge of farming. 

 Landholders too often only interest themselves in land as shel 

 ter for game, and agents as the source of rent ; the interests 

 of both parties being temporary, they pursue their hobby, 

 regardless of ultimate consequences, and occasionally without 

 sympathy for their fellow-creatures residing on the soil. There 

 is sometimes a person under the agent, called Factor, who, 

 from being the medium of communicating with the tenantry, 

 possesses much influence, which is generally used, for good or 

 evil, to please his employer. 



Land is generally occupied on a lease, which endures nine 

 teen years ; and it is by the skill and capital of tenant-farmers 

 that the soil is cultivated, and that almost all agricultural 

 improvements have been introduced. The farmers employ 

 yearly servants called hinds, a highly deserving class of opera 

 tives. 



As the population and wealth of Britain increase, there is 

 employment for a proportionate number of individuals in most 

 professions such, for example, as bakers and shoemakers 



