B E R 



330 



B i: K 



Berwick on the south the coast trends N.N.W. for eight 

 miles anil half to St. Ebb's or St. Abb's Head, win-re it 

 take* a W.N.W. dim-lion for nine miles, until it is met by 

 the boundaries of East Lothian. All the streams of Ber- 

 wickshire, exrept the Kye and its tributaries, which fall into 

 the sea at Eycinouth, and a few brooks which run into the 

 ea at other places. How into the Tweed. The Leader, or 

 Lauder, runs through the vale of Lauderdalc, and after a 

 course of about seventeen miles joins the Tweed, where 

 that river begins to furm the south boundary of Ber- 

 wickshire. The Whiteadder rises in East Lothian, unites 

 with the Dye in a vale among the Lammermoor hills, re- 

 ceives the Blackadder, near Allanbank in the vale of the 

 Merse, and falls into the Tweed within Berwick bounds 

 bout three miles from the sea. The Blackadder and its 

 feeders rise on the southern slopes of the Lammermoor 

 bills. The Eye rises in Haddingtonshire. Coldingham 

 Loch is the only lake of any extent in Berwickshire. 

 It covers about thirty acres, is at a considerable elevation to 

 be so near the sea, and abounds with perch : it forms a lively 

 feature in the bleak and sterile tract in which it lies. 

 There are several rivulets and small lochs or lakes, but they 

 are very inconsiderable ; all the streams abound in trout and 

 eels, and some contain pike and perch : a few salmon and sea- 

 trout ascend the Whiteadder, and the Tweed abounds in 

 excellent salmon and grilses. Dunse Spa had once some 

 little repute as a mineral sprint;. 



The chief post- road from Edinburgh to London passes 

 through Ayton to Berwick. The other post-road leads from 

 Edinburgh by Greenlaw. The cross turnpike-roads, like the 

 post-roads, are managed by parliamentary commissioners, 

 who are empowered to take, in all, 228 miles of road 

 under their charge. The parochial roads are superintended 

 by local commissioners, and supported by a money tax in- 

 stead of statute labour. Mr. Blackadder, in his excellent 

 map, estimates the whole extent of roads, whether parochial, 

 post, or turnpike-roads, at 647 miles 3 furlongs; hut it 

 is no doubt greater than this now. 



The climate is comparatively dry, and upon the whole fa- 

 vourable to agriculture. With respect to the parish of Ecrles, 

 on the north bank of the Tweed, nearly six miles from Kelso, 

 it i stated as follows in the Now Statistical Account of Scot- 

 land, p. 51, No. IV. 'The heat of springs in the parish is 

 48', wbich may he considered the mean annual temperature 

 of the atmosphere. The state of the weather from an average 

 of five years is as follows : 120 rainy days, 12 snowy days, 

 39 frosty days, and 2 14 fair days, making the proportion of 

 rainy to fair days as 1 to 1 nearly. The mean height of the 

 barometer for two years was 29.39 inches, which gives 

 8044 feet for Eccles abjve the level of the sea.' The preva- 

 lent winds in spring are from the eastern points, and in 

 autumn fumi the west ; the winters are seldom very severe 

 or long, though cold frosty weather is apt to continue far into 

 summer and blast the prospect of orchard fruit. 



The ecological features of Berwickshire are instructive 

 and interest ing. Thin seams of coal are found in the low 

 lands : a little limestone in various places, and clay-marl 

 on the banUsof the Whiteadder and Blackadder. Gypsum 

 is got in small quantities on the banks of the Whiteadder. 

 Shell-marl, which is found in several places, is worked in 

 thi' parish df Merton. Sund-stone pervades the greater part 

 of tlu- county. Slate of indifferent quality has been worked 

 Lander. Coarse pudding-stone occurs, and the outer 

 PUT of Eyemouth harbour is built of it, and has long 

 withstood. Without apparent waste, the storms of the German 

 oc- m. At Ordwell and other places attempts have been 

 made to work some copper ore which has been found, but 

 without success. Professor I'lnyfiiir. in his Illustrations of 

 the Hultonian Theory, mentions several interesting facts 

 in the geological features of Berwickshire. For some miles 

 beyond Berwick upon Tweed the secondary strata of various 

 kinds prevail until the sea-coast intersects u primary ridge, 

 tin Laiunu-rtixMir H;llc. which run from west to east; the 

 sect i in which the sea-coast makes of the eastern extremity 

 - ridge is highly instructive, from the great disturbance 

 of the primary Strata, and the variety of their inflexions. 

 The junction of these strata with the secondary on the south 

 side, i- n.'.ir the little seaport of Eyemouth ; but the imme- 

 ontart is not visible. 



101 th side of the ridge the junction is at a point 

 ir. !! Dungings. By being well laid 



of the sea, the rock 



0|K-n 



' 



to great advantage. Dr. Button himself has described this 

 junction. ( Thfory of thr &irlh, vol. i. p. 464.) 



The appearances of the primary strata on the coast of 

 Berwickshire also exemplify the waving and intlexi 

 the strata on a large scale and with great variety. A 

 section of one of them is given by Dr. Hutton in I 

 of the Earth, vol. i., from a drawing made l.\ S;r .lames 

 Hall. The nature of the curve into which tin 

 bent is the better understood from this, that 

 versa sections from north to south, tin- 

 which the sea has made and the projectile 

 exhibit many longitudinal sections in a direction 

 to west. Near the village of Priestlaw, in l.aini: 

 Berwickshire, on the little river of Kassnet, occur-, an in- 

 stance of real granite, disposed in regular 1 

 any character of gneiss. Playfair's Huttnniun V 

 sections 190,201, 294. 



Agriculture. The climate of Berwickshire, fn 

 graphical position and its proximity to th> 

 colder and more subject to sudden variation* 

 rature than the more inland and southern part- , .1 the 

 island. The harvest is in general three week- Inter than 

 in the counties south of the Humbcr : hut tl. 

 on the whole, is drier than in the western conn! 

 Scotland or the north-west of England, a very grent ad- 

 vantage in an agricultural point of view. This is uwnlied to 

 the influence of two ranges of high land, the Cheviot hills 

 on the south, and the Lammermoor hills on the north, 

 which are connected by a range of lower hills on the 

 west; these boundaries embrace a considerable extent of 

 country, and include the basin of the Tweed between : 

 and the sea. This basin contains numerous small, 

 vations and dales comprehending the Merse or lowlands of 

 Berwickshire, the detached northern part of ' 

 palatine of Durham, and parts of the counties of ' 

 and Selkirk. This tract of land shelves gradually 

 both sides towards the Tweed, which receives nil its 

 streams. It exhibits the most improved practical s\ 

 of husbandry, by means of which the disadvantages ,.| a 

 northern climate have been overcome, and a Boil hut mode- 

 rately fertile on the whole has been made to produce in 

 perfection all the crops which were formerly confined to 

 the more southern parts of the island. \Yhat e shall 

 here briefly detail of the agriculture of Berwickshire must 

 be considered as applicable to the whole district above-Men^ 

 tinned, and also to the valleys lying between the Tweed and 

 the Tay in Scotland, and u great part of the counties of 

 Northumberland and Durham south of the Cheviot hdls in 

 England. We shall therefuit have frequent occasion to 

 refer to this article when treating of the agriculture of the 

 surrounding counties. 



Berwickshire may be divided into two distinct portions, 

 the hills and the lowlands. Some of the eminences which 

 belong to the Lammermoor hills rise to more than 15UU 

 feet above the level of tho sea. They are consequently 

 bleak, cold, and unproductive, except on their lower slo|x>s, 

 where tolerable pastures are found, in which a hardy 

 race of sheep and cattle are reared. In the mid-t ol 

 hills there are several small valleys which are capnl 

 cultivation, and the industry and perseverance of the 111- 

 halniants have converted many apparently barren moors 

 and bogs into tolerably productive arable land. The 

 called the lowlands of Lauderdalc and Cockburn's 1'ath 

 contain about 10,000 acres of land fit for cultivation. The 

 remainder, to the amount of 175,000 a> < 

 high hills covered only with heath and fune, and of 

 walks of a moderate quality. The Merse contains about 

 100,000 acres of land diversified by smaller hills 

 which form a pleasant undulation of the nh .1 



soil which is extremely various. The different kinds of 

 soil, from the most compact clays and loams to tin- 

 sand and gravel, often occur in a very small coi 

 unfrequcntly in the same field, it'll he of an> < 

 extent. Most of the farms have land attached t<> tli< 

 every variety and quality, but on the whole the good soilt 

 prevail. There is a peculiarity in this county worth 

 noticing, in the total absence of chalk, or of any pt-nvptiMe 

 quantity of calcareous earth in the soil. There urea few 

 veins of limestone in the western part of the county, but in 

 consequence of the want of coal mines, except in the south- 

 eastern extremity of the county, none of it is burnt 

 lime ; so that this substance, so useful as a manure and n 

 meant of improving the toil, is brought from a considra,b|fl 



