114<S 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



rooted up ; and the soil subjected to the plough, which now 

 lets at a progressive rent, in some cases amounting already to 

 twenty shillings the acre. Betwixt Coupar, Angus, and Perth, 

 a tract of thirteen miles, the plantations on two thousand acres, 

 upon both sides of the public road, have been grubbed up ; 

 and the operation is still going on, both there and in other 

 places. So powerful is the principle of imitation, that we all 

 go frequently one way until we have gone too far. All men 

 can imitate example, but all men cannot reason so far as to 

 form a principle of action to themselves. In a certain degree 

 this operation is salutary, but if carried to excess, it will leave 

 the face of the country naked ; and, perhaps, in all cases, the 

 cost is not counted, nor the balance fairly stated between the 

 plantation and the produce arising from some jxior soils by an 

 arable system; yet it must be admitted, that no trees are equal 

 in value to com and grass, either to the landlord or the public, 

 where the cultivation of these can be prosecuted with success. 



-5. Wastes. 



The mosses and moors of this county are very extensive, and 

 great and successful efforts have been made for their improve- 

 ment. The most remarkable is that of Kincardine moss, 

 commenced by the late Lord Kaimes, and already described 

 (4196.). Draining, paring and burning, irrigating, embanking, 

 and all the different modes of improving land, have been prac- 

 tised ; and some, as draining and burning, to a very consider- 

 able extent. 



6. Livestock. 



Breeds of cattle very various; none peculiar to the county; 

 Angus, Fife, and Argyle herds, common among the farmers. 

 English, Ayrshire, and most of the approved breeds of the 

 south tried by the proprietors. Breeding is the chief object, 

 and next the butter dairy. 



Sheep. The ancient breed of sheep in this county were the 

 white faced. They were few in number, compared to the flocks 

 at nresent ; and in the Highlands were housed in cots every 

 night in winter and spring. About forty vears ago, the black- 

 faced or mountain breed was introduced from the south, and 



bought In, either when lambs, or at a year old. Their numbers 

 have increased beyond all exjiectation, since that time, over the 

 whole Highlands of Scotland. In gentlemen's enclosures, we 

 see different kinds, according to their fancy, or the superior 

 profit expected from one kind more than others. 



Horses. The original breed were ponies, twelve to thirteen 

 hands high, and too light for two-horse ploughs. Four of 

 them were used abreast, as is still the case in some remote 

 places. In.the Carse of Gowrie and other lowland districts, 

 oxen were employed to draw the plough, till about 1779 ; and 

 the horses were only employed to harrow in the seed, to carry 

 out the dung, and bring home the com to the stack-yard. 

 Oxen discharged from the plough, it became necessary to pur- 

 chase larger horses than were then bred in the county ; and 

 the markets of Glasgow, Falkirk, Stirling, and Perth, were re- 

 sortod to for that purpose ; which practice still continues. 



At present some Northumberland stallions have been pro- 

 cured by proprietors, and lent to their tenants in order to raise 

 an improved breed. 



Swine. The prejudice against swine's flesh was such, that 

 not many years ago no Highlander would touch it ; that is now 

 fast wearing off", and the culture of swine extending. 



There is a raUnt warren at Dunkeld, and red deer and roes 

 in one or two places. There are also three or more kinds of 

 fallow deer in the county. 



Bees much attended to, and found profitable. Paterson of 

 Castle Huntley sows mignionette for his bees, which gives the 

 honey a most delicate flavor. Rosemary does the same. The 

 honey of beans is pale ; the honey of heath browii. Their fla- 

 vor is also different. 



7. Political Eccmomy. 



Roads wretched before 1745 ; still only bridle roads in many 

 places of the interior. No canals ; salmon fishery to a great 

 extent on the Tay. Linen manufacture, bleaching, and va- 

 rious other manufactures and public works. The principal 

 salmon fishery is rented by Richardson from different proprie- 

 tors, and for the sum of 7000/. a year. There are five others, 

 which produce from 100 to 200/. a year. 



7064. ANGUS or FORFARSHIRE. 532,243 acres, one half, or more, of clayey and alluvial lowlands, 

 and the remainder mountain pasture, moor and bog. The climate cold, moist, and variable. It is both 

 an agricultural and manufacturing county, and in respect to antiquities, facilities of further improvement 

 natural productions, &c. of great interest. The botanic family of Don, are of this county. A most valu- 

 able report has been furnished by the Rev. James Headrick, and is the last of the Scotch reports which 

 has been published. (Headrick's General View, 1813.) 



|1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 



The Grampian mountains abound in granite, which contains 

 topazes, or rock crystals. Quartz, mica, {porcelain stone, 

 lead, limestone, slate, jasper, jiorphvry, breccia, and shell marl 

 occur in various places. The Loch of Forfar abounds with 

 shell marl, which is taken out by scoops, and thrown into 

 boats, by which it is conveyed to the shore. The scoop consists 

 of a large iron scraper, somewhat similar to the Dutch hoe, 

 which has a long wooden handle fastened into it, and a bag of 

 strong leather fastened by whip-cord around its rim. The bag 

 is perforated by small holes, to allow the water to drain off, 

 and has a thong at its bottom, by which it can be turned over, 

 and its contents discharged into the boat. After the boat is 

 firmly fastened by anchors, extended fiom each end, one man 

 forcibly presses down the scoop to the bottom, by means of a 

 long pole, at the stem of the boat, while another man, by 

 means of a windlass, or wheel and axle, fixed in the opposite 

 end of the boat, drags the scoop along the side of the boat, by a 

 rope attached to it, and then raises it up to the boat's side, 

 where the contents of the bag are emptied into the boat. 

 When the boat has received her load, the marl is thrown out 

 upon a wooden platform at the side of the loch, to drain. 



Sandstone JIags are very abundant in the neighborhood of 

 Arbroath, and are quarried and exported in great quantities. 

 Principal quarry, Carmylie ; the flags rise from three to six 

 inches of any portable dimensions. They are called slate stone 

 flags, but are in fact sandstone in plates, coated with scales of 

 mica or tick, of a greyish blue color, and this mica occasions 

 their easy separation from each other. With very thin plates, 

 called slatestones, houses are covered ; they are laid in " plas- 

 ter lime" or moss {Spha/rnum palusire), but they seldom make a 

 roof that is watertight, and slate is now considered cheaper. 

 A most valuable property of the flagstone is, that when laid as 

 pavement on wet soil, they never show this on their upper sur- 

 face , so that they are excellent for paving kitchens, passages, 

 paths in hot-houses, &c. Coal searching for, at the time the 

 report was printing, but with no great hopes of success, the 

 district being considerably out of the boundary of the known coal 

 fields of Scotland. No minerals worked : various chalybeate 

 springs. No rivers, but a number of streams that are of mode- 

 rate size. Considerable sea, and some salmon fisheries. The 

 herring fishery has been tried in the open sea, and considerable 

 quantities taken in June, July, and August. Those earliest 

 taken were plump and fat, which shows that all former theo- 

 ries concerning this most nutritive and abundant of all fishes, 

 are erroneous, and how much it imports the interest of Bri- 

 tain, that the herring fishery should be conducted according 

 to the Dutch method, in the deep sea, and, as in the Isle of 

 Man, from May to September. Ciarvies or sprats, and spir- 

 lings or smelts, abound in the Frith of Tay. The sprats 

 resemble herrings, though of smaller size, and different flavor. 

 They are taken m great quantities at Kincardine, and other 

 places near the junction of the Forth with its estuan-, by nts 

 or wicker traps, sunk in the ebb of the tide. The smelts are 

 smaller than the sprats, and when firesh, emit a smell resem- 

 bling that of green rushes ; but when fried, make delicious 

 food. They are caught during spring, along the Forth, often 

 as far up as the Bridge of Stirling, by nets in the form of bas- 

 kets, fastened to the end of long poles. 



Haddocks, whitings, &c. cured by smoke, a practice first 

 suggested by Headrick, the reporter, in an essav published by 

 the Highland Soaety of Scotland. Dempster, of Dunnichen, 

 in this county, first suggested the idea of conveying salmon to 

 London, packed in ice. Reporter-remembers when servants 

 in the neighborhood of Stirling used to stipulate that they 

 should not have salmon oftener than thrice a week ; now they 

 seldom have them once a year. 



Every river it said to have its particular breed nftalmon. Thev 



I have recourse to fresh water, to escape the attacks of seals, 

 otters, and porpoises, and to get rid of the sea-louse, a small 

 black animal, whose attacks seem to inflict upon them excm- 

 ciatmg tortures. A few gulps of river water, seem either to 

 kill the sea-louse, or to deaden the pain it inflicts. Salmon 

 never remain longer in fresh water than is necessary to effect 

 the pur))oses which brought them there; but sometimes they 

 are suri>rised in the rivers by long droughts, and cannot get 

 over mill-dams, and other obstructions which lie between 

 them and the sea. When this happens, they soon get lean 

 and mangy, and die, their bodies covered with white worms. 

 But in fresh water, they take various kinds of bait, and eagerly 

 catch at flies, and hence become a source of amusement to the 

 angler. During autumn, the salmon always run up the rivers 

 to deposit their spawn. 



Tlie ,spawning of salmon seems to be a verv slow and labor, 

 lous process; and they get very lean, and even become un- 

 wholesome food, while they are engaged in it. The scene of 

 this operation is generally where a stream begins to issue from 

 a stagnant pool, over a sandy bottom. They begin by digging 

 a hole in the bottom, by pushing the sand and gravel before 

 them with their snouts, m the direction of the current until 

 they raise it into the form of a bank, which checks the rapidity 

 of the current, while it allows the water to percolate slowly. 

 The male seems to exert himself most in this work ; and lie- 

 fore its commencement, his snout becomes longer and harder 

 than usual, while before it is finished, it is often worn entirely 

 away. While depositing their spawn, the male and female rub 

 their bellies upon each other ; the latter throwing out her roes, 

 or eggs, while the male emits among them a milky juice, 

 which seems to effect their impregnation. After one stratum 

 of eggs is deposited in the artificial hollow descril)ed, they cover 

 them with' light sand, to prevent them from being washed 

 away by the water ; and thus they form alternate layers of 

 eggs and sand, imtil the hollow be nearly filled up. The eggs 

 being dropped into a hollow place, are warmed into life by the 

 sun's rays, in early spring. The fry being then very small, 

 easily escape from their covering of loose sand, and soon ac- 

 quire the size of small trouts, and are called salmon fry, or 

 smolts; which seems to be a contraction of rtm/rf. The first 

 flood now washes them into the sea; and they are generally 

 swept from our rivers before the middle of.May. 



Salmon trmit, or grilses, which ascend the rivers towards the 

 close of the fishing season, are by some considered a distinct 

 species of fish ; but some Caithness fishers assured the re- 

 porter, that they proved bv experiment, that grilses are only 

 salmon of one year's growth. ( Ren. p. 103.) 



The sea trout resembles the salmon, and frequents all the 

 streams where it abounds. 



Fresh rvater eels, contrary to the practice of salmon, breed in 

 the sea, and thrive and fatten in the fresh water lakes and 

 ponds. During summer, myriads of their young fry are seen 

 constantly ascending the fresh water streams, where they keep 

 near the sides, that they may avoid the current. In places 

 where they meet Avith interruption, such as behind a mill 

 wheel, they often accumulate in large masses, and frequently 

 make their wav up the crevices of the building, or over the 

 dry land, until they reach the stream above, in which they 

 continue their course. The larger eels are caught in this 

 county, while they are descending the streams during autumn, 

 probably to deposit their spawn in the sea. 



The observations of the reporter on various other species of 

 fish, and on salmon, and other fisheries, are, like every thing 

 which flows from his pen, new and interesting. 



2. Property, 



Much divided, largest estate 12,000/. a year: property at an 

 average, changes its proprietor every forty years. During the 

 dark night of superstition, a man coiild take no step respecting 



