MR BLACKEE'S TILE-WORK. 75 



has exerted himself greatly in this neighbourhood to 

 meet the distress by giving increased employment. In 

 one electoral division in which he has property, he em- 

 ployed three to four hundred men, with the view of 

 keeping down the necessity for out-door relief, but with- 

 out any perceptible effect, as the rates in that division 

 now amount to 12s. 4d. in the pound. 



At Mr Blackens tile-work, pipe-tiles of the best 

 quality are made — as good an article as any one could 

 wish to see. The selling price is 15s. per thousand for 

 inch-pipes. The pipes are glazed by a simple process, 

 which may add to the durability, but perhaps does not 

 improve the permeability of the tile. The porous 

 character of the unglazed pipe permits the access of 

 water through its substance as well as at its joints, and, 

 of course, in that way, assists the action of the drain. 

 Mr Blacker has also established a pottery-work here. 

 The clay seems of fine quality for the different purposes 

 to which it is applied. 



About 2 miles inland from Tarbert, the country rises 

 to an elevation of five or six hundred feet above sea- 

 level, and a great tract of good strong land is here met 

 with. It is susceptible of much improvement by drain- 

 age and fencing, but I should fear the climate — so near 

 the Atlantic, and at this elevation — is too moist for grain 

 crops. The dairy farming of the upper parts of Ayrshire 

 might probably be introduced with success. Whether the 

 thievish propensities of the natives is greater than usual 

 here, I cannot say ; but the bailiff on an improved farm 

 which I visited is an old soldier, and pointed out, with 

 much satisfaction, the masterly arrangement of his corn- 



