112 



Changes in 



System 

 and Special 

 Industries. 



a ^ poultry farming have been tried in 'this district, but without 

 success. Poultry rearing and egg production are pursued by 

 all the smaller farmers, but their system and methods are 

 capable of considerable improvement. Fruit and vegetable 

 growing have been vigorously attempted by practical men in 

 the district, but they have not succeeded, being seriously 

 handicapped in getting their produce into the market, where 

 they have to compete with rivals producing under more favour- 

 able conditions." A system of combination and co-operation, 

 Mr. Drysdale concludes, would be a boon in the district. 



WIGTOWN. Mr. Ralston writes : ' k There has been little al- 

 teration in the system of farming other than that already 

 mentioned (Question 2, p. 61). The Mac-bars, or Eastern 

 Division, is chiefly devoted to the feeding of cattle and sheep ; 

 the Ehins, or Western Division, to dairying, with the feeding 

 of sheep on turnips, and wintering young cattle. These 

 methods apply for the last fifty years, or longer." Mr. 

 McMaster writes : " The only respect in which the sys- 

 tem of farming has changed in this district is that dairying has 

 greatly increased. The production of beef has given place to 

 that of milk, for which the damp, mild climate seems to be 

 specially suitable. On most of the larger holdings cheese- 

 making is carried on; the small farmers adopt the handier, 

 though perhaps less profitable, plan of sending their milk daily 

 to the creameries, three of which have been started in this 

 district within the last twenty years. I do not know that this 

 change has directly affected the demand for labour, but, as the 

 milking is done mainly by the ploughmen's wives and daugh- 

 ters, it means 1J hours' absence from their homes morning and 

 evening for seven days a week at a time when they are most 

 needed there, and is a serious disadvantage to their families, 

 and a piece of drudgery from which they are glad to escape 

 as soon as they can." 



