Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF STIRLINGSHIRE. 



1143 



houses and cottages formerly very wretched, beginning to Im- 

 iirove, but the iirogress slow. Dunbarton bridge, 300 feet in 

 length and twenty-five feet high in the centre. 

 3. Occupation. 



Average extent of arable farms fifty acres; sheep, or moun- 

 tain farms, average 600 acres. Farmers men of limited edu- 

 cation, without capital, and implicitly following the practices 

 of their forefathers. There exi.sts among the labonng , class 

 In this district, an inveterate attachment to the possession of 

 land. When a young man is disposed to marry, lie looks out 

 for a small farm, takes it at an extravagant rent, sto<;ks it on 

 credit, and draws from it a scanty subsistence, while at the end 

 of his lease his ettects are often unequal to pay the debt which 

 has accumulated during its currency. In fact, the feudal state 

 of society has not entirely disappeared in this county. There 

 were lately, on many estates, and are still on some," farms let 

 to three or four tenants, as conjunct lessees, to be cultivated by 

 their united, or rather discordant exertions. Lands always let 

 on lease, seldom for a shorter period than nineteen years. 

 4. Implements. 



Curved harrows of a semicircular form are used by the best 

 farmers for dressing their }>otatoe ridges. The diameter is 

 equal to the distance between the drills or ridges, generally 

 near three feet, and they are used, before the young shoot of the 

 potatoe springs, to dress the surface of the ridge, and destroy 

 any weeds which may have begun to appear. The highland 

 hand-harrow is still in use in some comers of the highland dis- 

 trict. It is about two feet long and fifteen inches broad, con- 

 sisting of three bulls, and as many crossbars, with twenty -seven 

 teeth, and two handles bent, like a hoop, with which it is 

 wrought. It is employed on bits of land, which have been dug 

 with the highland spade, either on account of their being too 

 steep to be tilled Iw the lalwr of a horse, or from their consist- 

 ing of a number ofsmall comers among rocks and large stones, 

 to which a common harrow could not find access. Wilkie's 

 wheel plough with a shifting muzzle [,1ig. 813.) is used to clear 



among the rocks, seems to be particularly adapted to the growth 

 of oak coppice, which, from its superior value, is chietiv en- 

 raged m such situations, while the inolster and more Unfa- 



water furrows on wet lands ; and also for the common pur- 

 fioses of ploughing strongs clays when wet ; the muzzle being 

 set so as both norses may walk" in the furrow. 



5. Enclosing. 



Gentlemen who pay particular attention to their hedges, 

 never allow them to be cut with shears. In place of that im- 

 plement, a hedge knife is used, with a short and slightly curved 

 blade, thick in the middle, and tapering to a thin and very 

 sharp edge on each side. By cuttmg always upwards, the 

 twigs are cut clean over without being bruised or cankered, 

 and the hedge is kejit, of what is universally allowed to be the 

 best shape, broad and bushy at the bottom, and contracting to 

 a sharp ridge at top. 



6. Arable Land. 



Potatoes cultivated better than any other crop in the county, 

 and with the greatest success. They are planted on every va- 

 riety of soil, and thrive even on the stiffest clays where there is 

 a sufficient declivity to carry oif the surface water, but a gra- 

 velly loam suits them best : about twenty tons of manure per 

 acre, is the common dressing. Drilling and dibbling are the 

 common modes in the lowlands, and hy large beds in the up- 

 lands ; average produce twelve tons, but eighteen are frequently 

 obtained. 



7. Grass Land. 



Some bog meadows, but no others ; some pasture fields 

 round gentlemen's houses, but none on lowland farms ; moun- 

 tains wholly in natural pasture, moss, heath, bog, and moor. 



8. Woods and Plantations. 



Copsewoods form a very important and prominent article in 

 the produce of this county. They cover some thousands of acres 

 of soil which would otherwise be altogether or nearly useless, 

 and yield an Income to the proprietors, little inferior to what 

 they derive from their best arable land. The steep slo^iing 

 banks of Loch Lomond and Loch I^ng, where the bases of the 

 mountains run into the lake, are in many places covered witli 

 them. The thin dry soil which appears in small patches 



^orable spots are allowed to be occupied bv less valuable trees. 

 These are chiefly ash, yew, holly, mountain-ash, birch, hazlc. 

 aspen, alder, crab, thorn, and willow. The seven last kinds 

 are considered inferior in value to the rest, and commonlv 

 known by the name of barren timber. 



Copsewoods are cut from the twenty-second to the twenty, 

 fourth year : after the latter period, the bark of oak become* 

 hard and corky, and of less value to the tanner. 



PlaiUationi, very generally formed on the uplands. 1000 acres 

 planted at Luss previous to 1794. The Duke of Montrose, a 

 great planter in Stirlingshire, and partly in this county, allows 

 200 Scotch pine, 400 larch fir, and 1000 hardwood trees to an 

 acre; prefers oak plants of several years' growth; and after 

 they have been established several years cuts them down, when 

 they push long and strong shoots. Plants by stellate slits, at 

 already described (3668.), as pits in a retentive soil only serve as 

 a recej.tacle for water. Firs, pines, and all trees now regularlj 

 jiruned. ' 



I'he finest tree in the county is an ash in Bonhill church, 

 yard. Its trunk is aliout nine feet high, and, where smallest, 

 upwards of eighteen feet in circumference. Of the three prin- 

 cipal arms into which it branches, the largest is eleven, and 

 the smallest near ten feet in circumference. The branches 

 spread m every direction with uncommon regularity, covering 

 an area of near 100 feet in diameter, and the general aspect is 

 singulariy venerable and majestic. There are no data from 

 which its age can be conjectured. Near 100 years ago it was 

 remarked by Marsham of Stratton, near Norwich, a cele- 

 brated planter, as one of the first ashes he had seen; and a 

 tendency to decay in some 'of the boughs, seems to indicate 

 that it has stood there for several centuries. 



Yew trees and hollies abound on the banks of Loch Ixj- 

 mond. A yew at Rosedoe is twelve feet round and very high : 

 one at Stockintibberftwenty -eight 

 fret round, and the top spreading 

 in proportion. 

 9. Improvements. 

 Some proprietors have drained 

 bogs, and rendered them tolerable 

 meadows ; and drained and plant- 

 ed moors. Mosses sometimes 

 burned, the ashes ploughed in, 

 and!the land cropped with oats,&c. 

 Irrigation by means of the rill* 

 on the hill sides, tried in somv 

 places with success. 

 Embankments have been made 

 on a small [scale, and some of considerable extent might be 

 formed with success. 

 10. Livestock. 



Highland cattle from Argyleshire in general use; but little 

 feeding, dairying, or breeding of this siiecies of stock. Sheep 



" the county to the extent 



Horses a small, hardy 



of a small black :faced kind, bred 

 admitted by the upland pastures. 



200 



_^ _^ _ disappears. 



the largest islands of Loch Lomond. 



Hogs increase as the prejudice agamst 

 fallow deer occupy two of the largest isla 



The stag, or red deer of the mountains, has disapi>eared since 

 the introduction of sheeii. A few roes stil) inhabit the wood- 

 lands. 



Bees common. 



11. Political Economy. 



Manufactures of iron, glass, cotton, paper, alkali, printing 

 and bleaching works, &c. 



Window-glass manufactured extensively, and equal in qua- 

 lity to any in the kingdom. Pay 60,000/. a year of excise 

 duties; employ 10,000 tons of shipping, and consume 1200 

 tons of kelp. The distillery of pyrolignous acid, at Milbum, 

 employs about seven hands, and consumes daily a ton of small 

 timber, chiefly oak, from which the liquor, a kind of coarse 

 vinegar, is extracted. The process beautifully simple. A 

 number of iron ovens, or retorts, are placed in a row, and filled 

 with the timber cut into small pieces A fire of coals or char- 

 coal is kindled in a furnace attached to each, and by its heat 

 forces the acid to fly ofT in the form of vajior. 1 his vapor 

 is conducted by a small tube proceeding from each retort, into a 

 refrigeratory or long metal pifie, on which a jet of cold water 

 from above is continually falling. Here the add is condensed- 

 and runs from the end of the pijie in a considerable stream, of 

 a reddish brown color. Besides the liquor thus procured, 

 which is employed in mixing colors for the calico printers! 

 there is a considerable quantity of tar and charcoal produced 

 during the process, the value "^of which is esteemed equal td 

 the expense of fuel. 



7058. STIRLINGSHIRR 450,560 acres, much diversified by rivers, mountains, woods, and vallies, 

 containing some rich alluvial soil, extensive peat-bogs or mosses, and some bleak hilly districts. The 

 culture of wheat and beans is the chief agricultural feature. Potatoes first cultivated in the fields in this 

 county, by Prentice, a farming gardener, at Kilsyth. (Belsche's General View, 1796.) 



Principal river the Forth, and mountain Benlomond ; the lat- 

 ter a cone, upwards of .'5262 feet high, of sheep-walk, belong- 

 ing to the Duke of Montrose. 



Lime, coal, ironstone, granite, whinstone, and freestone 

 abundant. 



The carse lan^s constitute one of the most remarkable soils 

 in the county. They lie in a low situation on the banks of the 

 Forth, and extend about thirty miles in length, and two in 

 breadth, at an average. They are elevated from ten to 

 twenty-five feet above high-water mark, and a small portion 

 of them in some places is overflowed at times by the river. 

 The soil is universally allowed to be the alluvion deposited by 

 the Forth and its tributary streams, and consequently to be the 

 spoils of the higher grounds, through which the river takes its 

 course. It chiefly consists of a hazel -coloretl clay, a small 

 quantity of sand, and a pretty large mixture of once organized 

 matter. In some places are patches of till of various colors; 

 but not a stone, so large as to obstruct the plough, is to be 



4D 



found. The soil of the liest quality, when dug first from thp 

 natural btxl, is of a bright blue color, and of a substance re- 

 sembling the richest soap, and sometimes even serves as a sub- 

 stitute for fuller's earth. In many places the clay is excel- 

 lently fitted for making bricks, tiles, and a coarse kind of 

 crockery ware. The dejiths are from five to fifty feet. The 

 subsoils are various, as a stiff brick clay, hard till, and sea. 

 shells in a natural state. These beds of shells are from a few 

 inches to four yards in thickness; thev are chiefly large 

 oysters, with a mixture of cockles, whellcs, and some other 

 shells at present found in the frith. These lands areia farms 

 from 15 to 100 acres each. In the higher parts of the county 

 the extent is from 20 to 1000 acres. 



Of mcntrs above 90,000 acres. 



Copjiice woods extensive, and plantations considerable. 



Carron iron works of great extent, and well known. Irge 

 cattle fairs held at Falkirk. Chief commerce the shippinK of 

 Carron articles for London and other places. 



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