26 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



venience, Mr. Campbell had recourse to the ex- 

 pensive and arduous expedient of totally reversinc^ 

 the course of the stream, by withdrawing it from 

 its old channel, and leadinoj it through the oppo- 

 site side of the country into Lochindaal. The 

 whole of this embankment was executed in one 

 summer. The total expense was about £600. 

 The ground which was reclaimed was let at an 

 additional rent of £285; so that, estimating this 

 at thirty years purchase, the immediate gain by 

 the embankment was £7050 sterling. Mr. Camp- 

 bell has finished a similar embankment against 

 the sea at the head of Lochindaal. 



Along the shores of the Forth, some important 

 acquisitions may also be noticed. "The whole 

 tract of land," says the reporter oi Stirlingshire, 

 "which stretches along the Forth, appears evi- 

 dently to have been covered, at some remote pe- 

 riod, with the waters of the sea, which, gradually 

 retiring, have left thi^^ -nil the richest in t^cotland, 

 exposed and fit for the operations of agriculture. 

 These carse lands are very little elevated above 

 flood-mark; and all along the coast the frith is so 

 shallow, that, at low water, many hundreds of 

 acres are left dry, the soil of which, when recov- 

 ered from the sea by enibankments. is equally 

 valuable with that which had been long under 

 cultivation. 



" The idea of recovering this fertile soil from 

 the sea, seems to have been originally suggested 

 by a Dutchman, about the beginning of the last 

 century. In the parish ol' Eorrowstounness, he 

 proposed to acquire by this method a tract of two 

 thousand acres, upon condition of his being allow- 

 ed the possession of it for Ibrty years, and timber 

 from the woods of Kinneil necessary for erecting 

 the dikes. The proposal was rejected. Had this 

 proposal been accepted, it is evident, that, at the 

 current rent for which such lands are now let, the 

 proprietor might have enjoyed at this day an addi- 

 tional income of £10,000 a-year. 



"The proprietors of the adjacent shores in 

 Stirlingshire have at length awakened to a just 

 sense of their interest in this important species of 

 improvement. A considerable deal has been done 

 in embanking, but nuich more remains to he done, 

 in the parishes St. Ninian's, Airth, Bothkennar, 

 and Falkirk." 



The number of acres of carse soil lately recover- 

 ed from the Frith of Forth in Stirlingshire alone, 

 has been ascertained as follows, viz. 



Reclaimed by Lord Dundas, 



•' by the Earl of Dunmore, 

 " by other proprietors, 



jlcres. 

 200 

 200 



200 



600 



Thus it appears, that within these lew years, 

 there have been recovered, in one distiict alone, by 

 embankments again.st the sea, no lees than six 

 hundred acres of the richest soil in Scotland, now 

 let at five guineas per acre. 



On Lord Dundas's estate, five hundred acres 

 more may be easily reclaimed in the same man- 

 ner. Til.e writer of this Treatise has inspected 

 the ground, and soon the estimate of a respectable 

 undertaker, which shows that, the expense would 

 not exceed £20 per acre. Thus \Uf. whole ex- 

 1)6086 would amount to about £10,000; and the 



return, at the ordinary rent of £5 per acre, would 

 be £2500 a-year, or about four year's purchase of 

 the soil. Two hundred r.cres more of the same 

 quality adjoining it, might be recovered at a simi- 

 lar expense. 



On Lord Dundas's estates of Clackmannan and 

 of Bambriech in Filij, a considerable extent of 

 land has also been embanked I'rom the overflowing 

 of the rivers Forth and Tay, and is now let at £5 

 per acre. On the estate ul' Kincardine,* aiijoiiiing 

 that of Clackmannan, similar successful embank- 

 ments have been made ; and it is proposed to ex- 

 tend these still farther into the channel of the 

 Forth. 



Besides the private emolument which would ac- 

 crue to indixiduals from the spirited prosecution of 

 these embankments, a very important public ben- 

 efit would also arise. Were they completed, the 

 navigation of the Forth and Carron would be 

 greatly improved; the waters oi" the frith, which 

 are now spread over a large surface, Vv'ould be 

 confined witiiin a narrow channel ; and the depth 

 would be so much increased at full tide, as to ad- 

 mit vessels of a larger burden. 



Wherever, on the other hand, these embank- 

 ments are neglected, the sea is gradually gaining 

 upon the land, and washing ofi' the most valuable 

 soil ; a striking instance ol" which has been ob- 

 served to the north of the confluence of the Car- 

 ron. 



But there is reason to hope, that many years 

 will not be aIlov,'ed to pass, till, on the shores of 

 Stirling, Linlithgowshire, and many others, there 

 shail be added many thousand acres to the carse 

 soil of S(totland. 



The Duke of Hamilton, some years ago, en- 

 gaged in the embankment ol' about 300 acres on 

 the estate of Kinneil, near Borroivstounness ; but 

 alier two years' trial the attempt iiiiled. It is, how- 

 ever, perfectly [iracticablc, if the proj;er plan were 

 prosecuted, which it is hoped, the present enlight- 

 ened proprietor will not hesitate to carry into ef- 

 fect. ■ 



It is a fact worthy of remark, that all along the 

 shores of the Forth, the sleech has increased very 

 much, and is increasing every year, by the accu- 

 mulated deposition of moss brought down from 

 Blair-Drummond, by the floating it- away from 

 that extensive tract, which has undergone so great 

 improvement since the commencement of that op- 

 eration by the late Lord Karnes. This is one 

 great inducement to the prosecution of that scheme 

 oi" embankment, which is so practicable all along 

 the course of that river. The land that has lately 

 been embanked by Lord Dunda^^ (according to a 

 plan, and under the direction ol" the author,) 

 was, fifty years ago, covered to the depth of near- 

 ly thirty feet at high water, where the depth would 

 not now have been more than five feet at the^ 

 highest tides, owing to the gradual deposition of 

 the floated moss. 



The banks of the Clyde present, in the same 

 manner, more striking instances of what may be 

 u3ne, than of actual improvement, by embank- 

 ment. The following example deserves notice, 

 as it shows both -the fricility and cheapness with 

 whic''h such works may be raised, and the petty in- 

 terests which too often impede and defeat the best 



Belonging; to the Countess Flahault. 



