[ *& J 



Thoii°h there are many things in the practices of this district 

 deserving both commendation and imitation, I cannot help observ- 

 ing, that the process of making hay is not among the number. 



In this respect they are the most egregious slovens I ever beheld. 

 It is no unusual thing to see cocks of about a load each remain in 

 the fields two months after they are made, and before the rivers 

 were lowered and the country drained, these cocks were frequently 

 tarried away by a sudden flood. When conveyed to a large mow, 

 no care is taken either in making or securing it; it is seldom 

 thatched; some indeed make their mows in a conical form, by 

 which means they suffer but little injury, but for the most part 

 they are left flat on the top, and the winter rains soak from the top 

 to the bottom, without shame or regret on the part of the owner. 

 In their summer pastures they are equally slothful ; docks, thistles, 

 nettles, and other weeds cover nearly a quarter of the land, and 

 wafted by winds, the seed is disseminated on the lands of their more 

 careful neighbours. Oftimes have I observed, that where nature is 

 most bountiful, her gifts are least prized. This is the case with 

 the farmers here ; so quick is vegetation even in the winter season, 

 that the cattle (unless it be unusually severe) scarce ever want a 

 a bite of gra?s, and a deficiency of winter provender is scarcely 

 known. I presume it is on the same principle that the Scotch 

 gardeners excel the English ; having more difficulties tA encounter, 

 their exertions and care are proportionate thereto. 



Before I take my leave of this rich clay soil, it may not be amiss 

 to say something of their orchards, to the production of which this 

 land is peculiarly adapted. Permit me therefore to state, by wav 

 of encouragement to planting, that there is scarcely an orchard in 

 this district that will not let for four or five pounds per acre, and 

 if the trees were plr.nted at proper distances, viz. sixty feet every 

 way, the pasture suffers but little injury ; the strength of the soil 

 enables the trees to throw forth a multitude of roots sideways, near 

 the surface ; it is tlierefore cf the utmost importance that they 

 should be placed at proper distances. In confirmation of this idea, 

 a tree thus placed in an orchard belonging to Mr. Batt, of Mark, 

 has in many years produced four hogsheads of cyder, and the te- 

 nant told me, that he would give for it one guinea per year, for a 

 term of twenty-cne years. The tree is not more than forty years 

 4: old; 



