1138 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



the employer and the n\ibllc profit 8tlU more ; the employer 

 does not pay a man who wastes halt" his strength at other 

 work, nor rely on a servant who may sometimes disappoint 

 him, by attending to other concerns. The public must cain 

 in the mcreased quantity of human food produced, for without 

 doubt, an acre ofland occupied by a cottager, will not yield as 

 much at as little expense, as if it made part of a farm culti- 

 vated by a person with sufficient capital. 



Were all the farm servants over the kingdom paid in kind, 

 it may be safely affirmed, from the experience of the places 

 where this practice prevails, that the advantage would be great 

 to themselves and to the public. The master might probably, 

 in some case, lind it more convenient to give money, but heis 

 far more than recompensed for any trifling disadvantage at- 

 tending the other mode, by the valuable moral habits which it 

 is calculated to preserve. Every master, who properly under- 

 stands his interest, will admit, that he had better pay sober. 



honest, and Industrious servants, than have those of a dlffbrent 

 description almost for nothing. From their being accustomed 

 to pass little money through their hands, many of the farmers' 

 servants in this county acquire such habits of saving, that they 

 lay up a few pounds for old age, or to meet any contingency 

 which may require more than their ordinary income. 

 10. Political Economy. 



The first turnpike bill for Scotland was obtained for this 

 county in 1750. The main roads are on the whole good; but 

 the bye-roads still admit of much improvement. There are no 

 canals or railways; the commerce is chiefly in grain from 

 North Berwick and Dunbar. There are oyster and other fish- 

 eries on the coast ; and starch w^orks, distilleries, and brew- 

 eries, biit no manufactures deserving notice. No agricultural 

 society in the county ; but that of Edinburgh, the earliest in the 

 United Kingdom, was founded chiefly by gentlemen of this 

 county, and especially Cockbum of Ormiston. 



7049. BERWICKSHIRE. 304,640 acres, chiefly of gently varied surface, but partly of hilly and moun- 

 tainous pasture. The soil in the cultivable part of thecounty, is chiefly light gravelly loam; the mountain- 

 ous part, which occupies fully one-third of it, is a continuation of the Lammermuir hills. Climate com- 

 paratively dry, but cold and late. There are no metals or coal in the county ; very little lime, but some 

 stone-quarries of the trap and other coarse stones. Every one knows that this county is one of the best 

 cultivated, and most systematically managed of any in the island, and that its products are nearly 

 equally stock and corn. It is the county of Lord Kaimes, one of the greatest patriots and best agri- 

 cultural authctt-s, and the first to propose a board of agriculture. It is also that of Small, well known 

 as the improver of the plough. {Kerr's Berwickshire, 1808.) 



1. Property. 



No very large estates ; largest from 8000/. to 10,000/. a year. 

 Many of the owners reside on their estates; some farmers "have 

 , of late years become respectable proprietors. Resident propri- 

 etors usually draw their own rents; and those who live at a 

 distance, employ an agent, or, if only temporarily absent, have 

 it sent in a bank bill. Proprietors and tenants live in harmonv 

 and mutual good will, the rents of the former progressively acf- 

 vancing with the improvements of the country-, and the for- 

 tunes of the latter augmenting continually, by industrious and 

 judicious attention to improved agricultural practices, and to 

 the amelioration of live stock. 



2. Buildinss. 



Farm-houses formerly of rough stone, clay, and thatch, now 

 greatly superior to the houses that were occupied by the mid- 

 dling gentry, forty or fifty years ago. An excellent" plan of a 

 farmery given ; but the cottages of the hinds appear uncom- 

 fortably small, and are calculated lor close panneled beds, 

 which, M'herever health and cleanliness are objects, ought to 

 be discarded. These cottages contain only one apartment, and 

 a sort of dark lumber place, formed by the position of the pan- 

 neled beds. We much wonder that the reporter, who talks so 

 much of the commodiousness of the houses of farmers, should 

 not have displayed a little more feeling on the subject of the 

 accommodations of cottagers. These remarks apply more par- 

 ticularly to three plans of cottages, given in the general plan of 

 a farmery (PL facing \). 91.) A detached plan of a cottage 

 {fig. 811.) is given, rather better arranged than these double 

 ones, but still, in our opinion, highly objectionable. It has 

 two windows, whereas the others have only one each. The 

 larger window is jn the kitchen \(a), the smaller in the 



811 



back place (b) ; these are separated by two beils (r) ; in the 

 kitchen are shown a plate rack and dresser (rf), table (e), and 

 two chests iff). In thelobby a place for coals {g). No water 

 closets in any of the plans. 



3. Occupation. 



Farms generally large, and held on lease for different pe- 

 riods, from ten to thirty years, but commonly for nineteen 

 vears. Mode of culture aration and pasturage alternately. 

 " Under this system of alternation, judiciously conducted, it 

 may confidently be asserted] that a farm of 1000 acres will 

 raise as much grain as one of equal siz entirely under perj)e- 

 tual tillage, and will produce in addition as much heci, and 

 mutton, and wool, as a separate farm of 200 or 300 acres under 

 permanent grass. If this estimation be well founded, of 

 which the rejwrter has no doubt, this alternate system is ob- 

 viously of superior profit to the tenantry in the first place, to 

 the landed interest secondarily, by increased rents, and to the 

 public ultimately and always, in the proportion of at least 

 twenty-five per cent, beyond what can be produced from the 

 two branches separately pursued on the same extent of equal 

 land. 



In the hill district, the lands are mostly occupied as breed- 

 ing sheep farms; taking advantage of alfthe favorable pieces 

 of land, susceptible of cultivation, for raising a little grain to 

 supply the farmer's family, servants, and horses ; to afford 

 litter and fodder from the straw during winter, by which dung 

 is produced ; to apply that dung to raise turnips, to carry on 

 their sheep stock during winter; and, finally, to produce crops 

 of artificial or sown grasses, for hay and early pastures, and to 

 the great amelioration of permanent pastures. 



In the neighborhood of towns and villages, various small 

 possessions, from two or three acres or less, to twenty or more, 

 are let on leases of various endurance, but mostly for short pe- 

 riods, to villagers who keep one or two horses, which they 

 chiefly occupy in leading materials for road makers, coals to 

 the other villagers, lime, or any such employment as may occur. 

 The great mass of the land throughout the county is let in 

 farms of every variety of size, from 40 to .50 acres, up to 1000 

 or more, to tenants on leases of fixed endurance, mostly for 

 nineteen years. 



The character of farmers in a large district of country must 

 be various ; but those of Berwickshire are very generally most 

 respectable and intelligent, and their success has been de- 

 servedly proportional. They have almost universally risen 

 completely above the operative class in knowledge, education, 

 and manners, assimilating in every respect to the character of 

 country gentlemen. In every comer of the county they are 

 to be seen carrying on extensive and costly improvements, by 

 draining, enclosing, liming, and marling; and by careful and 

 judicious improvements of their live stock, sheep, cattle, and 

 even horses, with all the eagerness and intelligence of com- 

 mercial speculators. They trust to the certain profits of future 

 years to reimburse their large expenditures with reasonable 

 profit, which they are enabled to do through the sufficiency of 

 their capitals, and the security of their leases. The former is 

 derived from their own successful and intelligent industry, or 

 that of their fathers, the latter from the good sense of the 

 landlords, in seeing their own interests most materially inter- 

 woven in the security and success of their tenants. 



4. Implements. 



No waggons or wheel ploughs, and though drilling turnips 

 is universal, only one or two sorts of drills in use. Few imple- 

 ments, and those of a simple construction, suffice for the best 

 practicians in every art. 



5. Enclosing. 



The cultivatable lands are universally enclosed and subdi- 

 vided into regular fields, generally by hedges ; but sometimes 

 by stone walls. In the mountain district, the farms are neither 

 enclosed nor subdivided. The boundaries of each farm are 

 indicated by landmarks, and round each farmery there are 

 g;enerally two or three small fields for convenience or cultiva- 

 tion. Trees very generally planted in hedgerows; hedges al- 

 ways cut with a bill in the wedge shape ; never clipped and 

 rounded, or broader at top than bottom ; the sure means of 

 hindering the production or side shoots, and in time producing 

 naked places and gaps in that part of the hedge. 



6. Arable Land. 



Ample details of the turnip culture in drills is given. 



7. Orchards. Woods. 



None of the former worth notice. Some native copses and 

 woods, and artificial plantations, but not much woodiness, ex- 

 cepting round gentlemen's seats. 



8. Improvements 



In this county were begun about 1730, when Swinton of 

 Swinton drained, marled, and completely enclosed his whole 

 estate. Nearly about the same time, Hume of Eccles did the 

 same. Both of these gentlemen were actuated by the example 

 and acquaintance of Cockbum, of Ormiston ; Henry Home, 

 Lord Kaimes, was one of the early improvers of this county, 

 about 1746, at Kaimes, now Besborough. About 1750, the 

 ardor of enclosing and improving the land, spread generally 

 among the Berwickshire proprietors. 



Paring and burning, irrigation and embanking not prac- 

 tised or required. 



9. Livestock. 



The cattle of Berwickshire are so much mixed by crossing, 

 as scarcely to admit of any particular description. Upon the 

 whole, they are short homed, thin hided, and kindly feeders, 

 and have been much improved by crosses with bulls of the 

 Teeswater breed, which is the kind chiefly admired in this 

 district. Generally speaking the oxen are not carried on to 

 any age, and they are never worked. They are well fed from 

 their youth up, and are generally fed off for market in their 

 fourth year, very few reaching five years old. Cows, on the 

 contrary, are genera,lly old before they are fed off. Great 



