THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



229 



beds;— swine but little attended to ;— and very 

 few farms in Scotland juslly proportioned to the 

 skill and ability of the tenant.* What a rontrnst 

 to the description I have just given, of the hus- 

 bandry of Scotland at the present period ! 



Among the circumstances which have occa- 

 sioned so extraordinary, and so rapid a change, in 

 the husbandry of Scotland, that turn far readina, 

 by which the Scotch farmers are so peculiarly 

 distinguished, though already pointed out, ought 

 to be more fully dwelt on. Nothing can be more 

 absurd than to imagine, that the communication 

 of inlbrmaiion by printing, which has promoted 

 the advancement of every other art, should be ol 

 no use in agriculture. It is not recommended, 

 that a practical farmer, should take for gospel 

 what he reads in print, and should alter his whole 

 system accordingly ; but let him reflect on what 

 he reads, let him try, on a email scale, useful ex- 

 periments, and let him extend them when they 

 are found to answer. At any rate, he may find 

 in books a number of useful hints, which may he 

 entitled to further inquiry. Hence the writinirs 

 of Karnes, and those of Anderson, Dickson, 

 Home, Wight, &c. in Scotland, and those of Ar- 

 thur Young, Marshall, and others, in England, 

 gave a great spur to the improvement of Scottish 

 husbandry, by directing the attention of the 

 farmer to the principles of that art to which their 

 lives were devoted. 



The practice adopted by the Scotch farmers, of 

 travelling to England, and in some cases even to 

 foreign countries, removed a cloud of prejudices, 

 which could only be speedily, and completely 

 eradicated by ocular inspection. 



No circumstance, however, had a more power- 

 ful influence in promoting a spirit of improvement 

 in the northern part of the kingdom, than the 

 formation of a Board of Agriculture ; and from 

 that era, in the opinion of the best informed agri- 

 culturists in Scotland, may be dated that won- 

 derful change which has taken place in Scottish 

 husbandry. In consequence of that establish- 

 ment, as remarked by an intelligent farmer,* " a 

 general desire seized all ranks to promote internal 

 improvement. By means of that instituiion, 

 great numbers of new men were brought forward 

 to public notice, whose names otherwise would 

 probably never have been heard of; and these 

 being chiefly practical people, in other words, 

 persons professionally concerned in farm manage- 

 ment, agriculture, by their endeavors, was rescued 

 from the hands of theorists, and a revolution of no 

 small extent accomplished in rural aflairs. Before 

 the Board was instituted, the bond of connexion 

 amongst agriculturists was slender, and served 

 few useful purposes, each standing on his own 

 strength and inlbrmatior;, and unless in the case 

 of those who travelled about to collect useful in- 

 formation, (and the number of those, at that time, 

 was not great,) they new little more about the 

 practices of conterminous districts, than those of 

 China, or the most distant countries. The esta- 

 blishment of the Board did away at once all 

 those evils and difficulties: a common fortress, 

 erected for the benefit of all agriculturists, and 



* See Karnes's Gentleman Farmer, Appendix, Art. 

 i. On the Imperfection of Scotch Husbandry. 



t See Brown of Markle's Treatise on Rural Affiairs, 

 vol. I, p. 20, 



to which each might resort for advice and protec- 

 tion, was immediately recognized. It made 

 farmers, who resided in the most distant quarters 

 of the kingdom, acquainted with one another, 

 and caused a rapid dissemination of knowledge 

 amongst the whole profession. It did more — "he 

 art of agriculture was brought into fashion; and 

 tlii.'? being the case, old pr;icticcs were amended, 

 new ones introduced, and a degree of exertion 

 manifested, which had never before been exem- 

 plified in this island. The rmmerous surveys of 

 husbandry, executed under the authority of the 

 Board, were of singular advantage also, because 

 they brought to light the practices of every coun- 

 try; and whilst (hey pointed out the obstacles 

 which lay in the way of improvement, stated the 

 most eflectual methods of removing them. The 

 very collision of argument, which such discussion 

 occasioned, was of advantage, causing agricul- 

 turists to investigate the principles of the art 

 which they professed, and inducing them to search 

 after new channels of improvement. In a word, 

 the Board, in a few years, collected a mass of 

 agricultural information, hardly to be equalled, 

 and not to be exceeded, by the accumulated stores 

 of every other nation." 



Mr. John Shirreff likewise attributes the rapid 

 improvement of Scotland, to the interesting infor- 

 mation communicated by the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, at a time when the minds of men were 

 qualified, from education and observation, to put 

 a i)roper value on it, and whilst their capitals, 

 arising from that powerful stimulus to improve- 

 ment, leases, enabled them to execute those im- 

 provements which this interesting and various in- 

 liirmation suggested. 



In a communication from Mr. Charles Alexan- 

 der, a respectable farmer near Peebles, it is ob- 

 served, that the publications of that^Board, and 

 other recent works on farming, in particular 

 " The Farmer's Magazine," printed for the 

 express purpose of promoting the views of the 

 Board, were read with avidity ; that a spirit of 

 inquiry was thus excited, and that improved 

 agriculture was universally considered to be a 

 sort of coining of money. Hence a large share of 

 capital, that did not originally belong to agriculture, 

 and never was acquired by it, was thrown into the 

 scale ; an unprecedented competition arose for 

 purchasing and leasing land ; an increased spirit 

 of agricultural improvement was the result, the 

 effects of which soon became almost universally 

 conspicuous. 



The exertions of many other public-spirited 

 institutions, in particular those of the Highland 

 Society of Scotland, were of the greatest service ; 

 and a number of provincial societies, in their seve- 

 ral districts, propagated the spirit with suc- 

 cess.* 



But information and skill would have been ac- 

 cumulated in vain, had it not been that, by the 

 extension of paper currency, and the establish- 

 ment of banks and branches in almost every 

 county in Scotland, the fiarmers were furnished 

 wiih credit, and supplied with the readiest means, 

 of converting the produce of their farms into the 

 circulating medium of the country, and were 



* The advantages of provincial societies are ably 

 explained, by Sir George S. Mackenzie, in the Ross- 

 shire Report, p. 332. 



