76 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



hears of a disappoinlmenl occurring Id buyer or 

 peller. The market is aJveriiseil lo tai^e place on 

 Tliursday, and ihe buciiness ceriainiy nnulit l)e 

 despulclied in one day; but genllcnien who find 

 themselves removed lor a lime from resiliences 

 which, ihonoli comlijrlable and beauiilbl, are jet 

 solitary, when CGn<,negaled with the brethren o!' 

 their proiession, under agreeable circumstances, 

 can seldom be induced lo st^parale before the con- 

 clusion of Ihe week. Tiie weekly sieemers be- 

 nvixl Inverness and the Forlh and Clyde, and the 

 daily coaches beiwixt the same city, EdinDur<^h, 

 Aberdeen, and Glustrow, afibrd such liicilities, 

 that an Enclish liirmer, by embarking at Yar- 

 mouth or Sunderland on the cast coas", or at L\- 

 verpoolonthe west, mifj;ht attend this market at the 

 expense ofone fortnight's absence Irom his home. 

 j^ccounts.—The farm accounts are kept in the 

 most simple Ibrni possible, by journal and ledger, 

 checked by double entry, vouched by the steward's 

 reporis and other documents, and abbreviateil by 

 five waste-books. The wasle-books, consisting 

 of a corn-book, cash-book, sheep-book, lime bill- 

 book, and memorandum of statements with work- 

 people, are carried on from week to week through- 

 out the year, and at lis termination the whole 

 posted from these through the journal inio the 

 ledger, which is shut by a balance account on the 

 1st January yearly. Farmer's books are not such 

 agreeable companions now, as ihey were belbre 

 the. bfitlle of Waterloo; nevertheless, a wise man 

 will keep ihem correctly, and balance ihem punc- 

 tually ; recollecting that it is in the roui, not the 

 fight, that the carnage lakes place, and that that 

 parly is safest which shows the most correct front 

 to the enemy. When a farmer's accounts betray 

 coniusion or slolh, his servants become indiderenl 

 to their duty ; faithful servants (juil, worse men 

 take their places, and pillage begins. A rogue 

 is shy to engage with a master who pays punctu- 

 ally and liberally, with a prolessed inlenlion liiar- 

 le^sly to send a thiel" to justice. He wails for a 

 place of a contrary description, and there he 

 exercises his vocation. 



Capital. — According to the best o[)inion which 

 the reporter can form, the capital necessary to en- 

 able a farmer to carry on business in Sutherland 

 may be stated at about lour pounds, to lour pounds 

 ten shillings per tillage acre, and twenty shillings 

 lor each sheep. A Scotch farmer, however, under 

 a decent landlord, may venture farther than 

 would be safe in other circumstances, in conse- 

 quence of the landlord's right of liypothec, or pre- 

 lerence established by Scoich law over the whole 

 produce of the farm in security of his rent. This 

 right of prelerence exists, tacitly, over each crop 

 for the rent of that crop, and over all stock until 

 three months alter the last conventional term of 

 payment. Suppose a tenant's rent pavable, by 

 equal portions, at Martinmas 1829, ami Whitsun- 

 tide 1830, (or crop and year 1829. At Martinmas, 

 markets for corn, and, at Whitsuntide, markets 

 for stock, are ruinously bad, in consequence of the 

 glut caused at these seasons by the distress of the 

 English larmer. The Scotch landlord knowing the 

 perfect nature of his security scruples not, in such 

 ciicumslances, to give his tenant v/haiever indul- 

 gence is necessary for the ftiir conversion of his 

 produce into money. The difliirence of five, ten, 

 fifteen, or twenty per cent, on the gross sales of his 

 larm ia an important oae. Neither is such an ex- 



ercise ol" the landlord's right attended by any bad 

 consequ,"nces to society ; diminishing, in the first 

 place, the glut oi'maikels at term time, it slackens 

 at another seasun the grijie of the lorestaller, and 

 softens the monojioly which he vvoidd ctfiervvisa 

 be possessed ol ; secondly, the dealer who buys 

 farm produce, knownig peilt'ctly \\\k! public law of 

 ihe land, leels himself at hberiy, belbre settling 

 with the tonuni, to say, " I presume your rent id 

 paid?" The answer li"om the most necessitous 

 man is, "Indeed, sir, it is not, but here is a letter 

 Irom my landlord or his agent, lo say that you 

 may pay nie 50/. on account, and (or the balance, 

 he and 1 will grant a receipt in full." I>3' a judi- 

 cious exercise of this right of h\ poihec during ihe 

 late diliicull ytMrs, thousands of Scotch (armers 

 have been saved from ruin ; and men are now 

 prosperously conducting the operations of a farm 

 who, in other circumstances, must have sunk un- 

 der the (iressure of ihose times which iiave over- 

 whelmed so many of their brethren in the south. 

 Those who disapprove of the right of hypothec 

 say, "Let the tenant find personal security to the 

 landlord, if he cannot pay on term day; or let the 

 landlord at once take an execution lor his rent." 

 But it is eubmiiled that it would not be wise to 

 reconmiend the subsiituiion of an execution for 

 the existeiice of the landlord's tacit right of hypo- 

 thec ; and with respect to security, where is he to 

 find ii, but among persons in circumstances simi- 

 lar to his own, lo whom and with whose friends 

 he miiHt join in obligations of the same nature 1 

 In the extent and uncertainty of his engagements 

 his head turns, he plunges into one or more of the 

 fatal circles which liom three months to three 

 months revolve round the banker's coiinting-house; 

 and after iiicreaj^ing lo the best of his ability, the 

 revenue derived Irom the " Excise," and thereby 

 proving the " prosperity" of the country, down he 

 comes. 



Poor. — Another instance of Scotch feeling the 

 reporter will notice, as it exist among a diflerent 

 class — the cotter or agricultural laborer — that is, 

 with respect to poor-rates. The English, the 

 bravest and most generous people in the world, 

 have established them ; and yet it is not said that 

 they are any where so established, unattended by a 

 considerable degree of improvidence and dissipa- 

 tion among the parties in belialfol' whom the pro- 

 vision is made. 



On the demesnes of which these farms are a 

 portion, with a more dense population than ever 

 existed there at any Ibrmer period of lime*, there 

 are no tithes, no poor-rates, and — no drunkards, or 

 beggers ; positively levy or none, besides the Irish, 

 and the lew squalid, ruined men liom the south, 

 who wander occasionally in'.o the country. Nay, 

 one meets with few f)easants' sons, of this district, 

 who have nol, liom such slender wages as ihia 

 report speaks to, been taught to read, write, and, 

 perhaps, to cast up an account. ' If a tolerable 

 proficient, away he goes to "seek his (brtune ;" 

 and the proverb says, "it is a bare moor but he 

 will find a cowe t upon it." Go where he may, 

 his heart is with his father's house ; and if he 

 succeeds in li(e, which he generally does to a cer- 

 tain extent, the "inmates'' there are Ihe better lor 

 it. The first feeling of a Scotch peasant is affec- 



•Vide census, 1811, 1821, 1831. 

 ,t Cowe, a bit of heather. 



