1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



149 



cespary to promnto tlie health of the animal, and 

 fresh beds ofciean slrawarererrularly jriveu them. 

 A stoaniin^j apparatus on the, most approved prin- 

 ciples for preparinff tlie Ibod of the horses, dairy 

 cows and piu;s, has ahvays been used here, and 

 ouclu to he used on every lariije farm, hut atten- 

 tion should he paid not to give any lood more 

 than kdvcwarm to any stock. 



IMPLEMENTS. 



Plniif;h9. — Iron ploutrhs on!}" arc used. The 

 first of the kind was manufactured by Wilkie, of 

 UddiniTstone, near Glasgow, but these imple- 

 ments are now regularly made on the best con- 

 struction, by tradesmen in the neighborhood. 

 They are uniformly drawn by two horses abreast 

 only, and with such ploughs and horses, any kind 

 of soil may be well cultivated. The furrow-cut- 

 tinfj plough, described under the head of grass 

 husbandry, may be made by any plough-wright, 

 and is a most useful implement. The number of 

 horses employed in drawing it, depends on the 

 depth of the furrow, and the nature of the soil. 



Carts. — Carts with iron axles and two shafts, 

 as commonly used in Lanarkshire, drawn by a 

 single horse, are decidedly the best, and no other 

 kind is used here. In harvest and hay-making, a 

 frame is mounted on the shelvintjs of such carts 

 for bringing the crops from the fields. 



Harroios. — Finlayson's patent harrow is great- 

 ly used here for cleaning lands. It is a very use- 

 fii! and excellent implement for such purposes. 

 The common seed harrows are in use on this farm; 

 some of these are made of iron. 



Drill Machines. — A machine for sowing tur- 

 nips by two drills at once is used here, and another 

 machine mounted on a small wheel, and pushed 

 by a man, for sowing grass and clover seeds, is 

 also in use. 



Threshing and cleaning the Grain. — At first 

 for many years this was done by a threshing ma- 

 chine driven by horses — latterly, it is altogether 

 done by hand labor and by the flail, and paid lor 

 by the bushel of cleaned grain. The expense is 

 probably as cheap by the flail as by the machine, 

 and employment is thus given to the poor, and 

 every purpose required is answered by the present 

 practice.* 



No part of rural economy is less understood or 

 attended to than the management of manure; and 

 r1: would require a treatise on the subject to detail 

 the systems pursued in the best farmed Scotch 

 districts, which are always held as the fyuide lor 

 good management here. It may be shortly staled 

 that all the urine from the stables, yards, cow- 

 houses, piggeries, &c. is carefully conducted by 

 under drains into the dung-pits. The duni; col- 

 lected is carted out during the winter for turnips, 

 and laid up in convenient'places for a speedy ap- 

 plication to the lands, the instant the season suits 



*The experience of every other district of the 

 kingdom is contrary to this conclusion. The machine 

 threshes much more cleanly, and it is equally benefi- 

 cial to the consumer and the farmer, from the facility 

 with which it enables the latter to meet all the changes 

 and exigencies of the market. 



{ox sowing. The middens, or dung-hills, in the 

 fields, are hollowed out in the hotioms, so as to 

 prevent tiic moisture from escaping, and are regu- 

 larly covered with mould. Tiie carts are never 

 allowed to pass along the dung-hea[)s. The ma- 

 nure made in summer, when cattle jzet orcen food 

 in the house, is always of better quality than win- 

 ter-made dung, and is generally apfdied to the 

 summer fallows. Short dung is unquestionably 

 most suitable fijr turnips, as in that stale it aflbrds 

 no interruption to the plough and drill. Lono> 

 dung, that is to say, dung not fermented, may be 

 applied to potatoes without any impropriety. The 

 management of compost occupies considerable at- 

 tention; frequent turnings, and probably twelve 

 mouths are required to reduce the stubborn lumps 

 of clay often used in the making compost, and tur- 

 nips are in many cases raised by no other applica- 

 tion. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT. 



The estate, of wliich the lands here described 

 form a part, consists of an extensive district, in 

 which there is a very considerable quantity of 

 good loamy clay and gravelly soils on the rivers, 

 but by far the greatest portion' is clay soil. Horses 

 are regularly bred by almost every farmer, and 

 the dairy husbandry (chiefly in the making of 

 butter) is largely followed. 'Every person pro- 

 duces a certain number of young cattle as well as 

 fat beasts for market, and large quantities of pork 

 and bacon are produced, besides considerable 

 quantities of wheat, barley, oats and turnips. In 

 this district, where a mixed system of husbandry 

 is followed, from the necessity of attending mar- 

 kets, and from having a considerable intercourse 

 with strangers, the farmers are sharp clear-sighted 

 people, alive and ready to adopt any successful 

 experiment, after it has succeeded under the pro- 

 prietor's management. On this estate, a local farm- 

 er society, confined to its bounds, but havino- 

 three hundred members, has long existed, by 

 whom prizes are yearly awarded to'every branch 

 of good management in agricultural matters, and 

 to the various descriptions of stock. The yeo- 

 manry thus meet regularly once a year; they hear 

 the management of their farms discussed openly 

 and fi-eely; good managers are praised and re- 

 warded, and indolence and bad management 

 would be ashamed to exhibit themselves. "All the 

 (jood stock of the country is annually shown, and 

 the spirit of emulation is invariably attended with 

 good consequences at the next meeting. 



The country is purely agricultural. No man is 

 above his profession, and almost all are possessed 

 of means fully equal to managing their lands in 

 ihe best style. The country is now enclosed and 

 subdivided into suitably sized fields. Quick hedges 

 of thorn, kept neady dressed by the pruning knile, 

 arc the common fence of the country, and few 

 countries can boast of belter hedges than this. 



Except along the sides of the great roads, 

 hedge-row trees are not usually seen or planted, 

 and the country where grain is chiefly produced, 

 has been purposely and judiciously left open,to 

 admit a free current of air and sun to the crops, a 

 point of much consequence in bad seasons, and in 

 a climate as damp as this is. This district lies 

 low. It extends from the head of the Solvvay 

 Frith, rising from the level of the sea, with a very 



