1184 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Pakt IV. 



en ft*, ta Bvwleki fev tlie Lottdon iiurli-t. In one or two 



in st. 11 1. .-•. (hi- //uli Us l.m.itlis h H Inrii , Ultlvmttd I'll IV. I .urn. .1 



bt<» witli Mirms, tral U Intcndtd lo tw mi i— itnJ hv better 

 pr4*«t .i> Mh.ii .is (tu- > will 1. .tr them. Th.- drill culture of 

 turnipa vaa Uttroduoeu bj CraU iboul 1745. Draining lias 



bt n ri(ensiv«-l* practised, Irrigation m ■ 1", w places, end lOTOe 



tmbufananti nude on th ■ bolwaj Faith, tnd the Sith and 

 Anii.ui. Thi-iv ui hi arcfaardsi Boras remains "t ropulce 

 tad ftmttg vnich, ■coordlng t" b| i end authentic 



tw c ordii mtiii in loniii-r times to hare [tread <<•>>■> great pan of 

 tin- county i and Dumeronj young plantations. Some tears 

 ago many young s, ou u An died -Torn the in ■!■ ki of th / ' ; ■ lo 



I un.. mm, aj soul, Mtppoai ; but the o loss dose not leem cleari* 

 Down. Borne ear] urge osJa, beeches, tiiu, ash i, and larch 

 tin are described in the Kepon. 

 5. Improvements, 



.\% n specimen, are shall give some notices of what baa been 

 doni on in < t itr of Mount Annan, t.\ General Dfrom. The 

 •Hani of Mount Annan estate Is 5(760 ncres. Thegenend began 

 In, Improvement! In 1 793, and planted, \> fore 1819, 16s acres. 

 Assist it! In laying out a considerable extent of public roa<l and 

 building brittges, the road passing through the estate. Made 

 mi Improvement In the construction «>t Inn -kilns, since per- 

 I Books of Dublin. (3863.) The lime quarried and 

 dried bj manna of a imall stream from more elevated lands; 

 tins strcini being made to turn an overshot wheel, which 

 u.irks two pumps* The village of Briilekirk began in 1SUU 

 (3850.1 on the new road, and where the river Annan affords 

 ample mill for machinery* Farms arranged of different sizes, 

 and three ninnnil farmers settled with a view to improvement. 

 Cottage farms, one or two; cottages; improved stock on the 

 demesne farm ; improved farm buildings ; leases for fifteen 

 jrears ; stone quarri.-, opened, others drained and improved ; 

 brick clay found, and bricks made; salmon fishery improved. 

 Irrigation, riorin, spring whea', moss composts, mole plough, 

 and steaming apparatus introduced. A cross moss-cutting 

 machine, invented by the overseer, William Holliday, for 

 cutting the furrows across in improving moor, instead of cross- 



Ploughing ; the latter operation bring not only very laborious, 

 ut one which seldom succeeds in cutting thefurrows into pieces 

 small enough to be afterwards easily harrowed. This machine 

 consists oftwo circular knives, if they may be so called, six inches 

 deep in the blade, witha blunt edge fixed upon and embracing 



the whole of the exterior circle of two small broad wliecU.a.id 

 ■a tbej go r.iiuiii the knives cut the furrows across* The ax'e 

 ■nd irauie of B roller are used for these wheels, so that the 

 weight may be bacreanad .». loading the box of the frame, If it 

 should be necessary to make the knives cut through the fur- 

 rows. It is dragged with great ease across the ploughed moor 

 by one horse; and when it is moist the furrows are . ut through 

 With the greatest facility, in pieces of any length, according to 

 the number Oi turns taken by the machine. The furrows, when 

 a little dry, ire then turned over by the brake (break) harrow, 

 and being ail cut into small pieces, are in the | 1(S t state for 

 being reduced by repeated harrowing, or for being thrown to- 

 gether ui heaps and burnt. 



«i. Weekly Reports. 



" In carrying on the improvements which have been men- 



-.. the servants ami horses 

 hive been employed during evervdav; contains a journal of 

 the weather, and of the progress of different works; and a state 

 of his receipts and disbursements during the week. These re- 

 ports, besides enabling one to judge of what is doing, and to 

 give any directions that may be necessary, are extremely useful 

 to refer to, and excite the overseer and servants to be dUurcnt 

 in my absence." 



Increase of population on the estate in fifteen years. 3<J6- 

 viz. : from l,o to 571 inhabitants. Total expense of purchase 

 and improvements up to IS 11, 30,000/. Clear annual rental 

 at that time, '2000/. a year, exclusive of the value of timber, and 

 of the mansion, garden, and hot-house, &c. as a gentleman's 

 residence. 

 7. Political Economy. 



Improving roads, and some canals and railways ; some con- 

 merce by sea with the port of Dumfries; manufactures incon- 

 siderable; paper, stockings hv frames, muslin weavers. A sin ili 

 iron-work at KirkconneO, in which from three to four do/en 

 spades daily are made. Cotton spinning and weaving in a few- 

 places. Carp t weaving, &c. *' Salt, from the richest part, of 

 the sea slcech, collected with horse drags in drv weather in 

 summer, and then placed so as to be washed and'filtered, and 

 the brine that runs out ot it boiled." 



78». K1KCUDBKIGHTSHIRE, 5(51,641 acres, and WIGTONSHIRE °88 960 acres (Fd Cn~ „*, 

 8» , Mb« great similarity of agricultural character, haVe ta£ tataffil toS rfporf as t 

 district o (.all-way. The climate moist but rather warm j in some parts of Wigtonshire in genial 

 seasons flg. ripen on the open garden walls. The soil and surface of Galloway is ?xcee<ling'l y various 

 Almost the whole of W,g onsh.re 18 very little elevated above the surface of the sea . bu great Zr't 

 O K.r.ud ,r,ghtsh,re is hilly and mountainous. The better soils are for the most part light and of th s 

 and hazel loam there is a considerable portion in Wigtonshire, In some places in Kircudbr gh ts lire s 

 ctayey or alhmal : and there is a great deal of peat-moss, and bog, as well as improved; ot Sb 

 eat 1 he rocks ot the county are argillaceous, granite, or whmstone with some freestone. Sonie ,, i u- a] 

 ve.ns have been found; and one ot lead, near Gate House of Fleet, was worked at the expense o tie 

 compiler of this work tor some time, but without success. In an agricultural point of view Galloway is 

 Chiefly remarkable for .ts breed of cattle. Gladstone, a millwright, who has invented a reaping machine 

 X^?G^*vSmn ° n Ule thr - hi "g —■'"-. and other .mp.emenufi^oj'uus'^s trier,' 



1. Property. 



More divided than in most of the rounties of Scotland 

 Largest estate, 30,(100/. a year, Earl of'Galloway's, in Wigton- 

 shire. Estates in general well managed : landlords in genera! 

 advance money at five, six, or seven and a half per cent, for 

 buildings, fences, drains, mineral manures, roads, &c. Dun- 

 bar Earl of Selkirk, a disciple of Craik's, one of the first who 

 set the example of improvement, which has been persevered in 

 by the same family t u the present time. 



2. Occtiptition. 



In the moors, where breeding cattle and sheep is the object, 

 farms sometimes seven or eight miles square, some ten or 

 twelve. Arabic farms 300 to 600 acres ; !MXJ acres perhaps the 

 average. Leases nineteen or twenty -one vears, to which the 

 late harl of Galloway superadded the tenant's lite. " From 

 tin. two good eHei is were supposed to result ; 1st. That the 

 landlord was freed from the expenses of buildings and repairs. 

 Ally. That the tenant presuming (as we always do) on the 

 continuance of life, would be disposed to go on 'with his im 

 provements to Uie last. There is certainly, however, much 

 liberality in the idea." 



■>. Enclosing. 



Galloway dyk.s (3060.) very generally in use; some useful 

 remark* on the nee -"ii.y of bonding them sufficiently, and 

 working the coping-stones to a llat under-surface. 



+. Arabic Land 



Till the middle of the eighteenth century, four and some- 

 Jimes six horses yok.sl abreast in the old Scotch plough, and 

 tumbril, (cart, with low wheels without spokes) and cars in 

 Use, now all the unproved implements; the husbandry of 

 E«t Lothian on the alluvial lands and loams, too hav,"f,, r 

 turnip, ; th ,t ,.t Berwickshire on the turnips soils ; cattle bred 

 on the mountain, and moor, ; carrots cultivated in some 



"' I "' toamworweUi Sorin tried on boss: some 



Irrigation; embanking near Wigton and at Kirkcudbright, 

 and mil. h draining ; a! ., paring and burning, and various other 

 in. suit ..t improving bogs and Sow-mosses tried, In conjunction 



with draining, torn in the late dUtri, t, gailed ' |3I7fi \ 

 llarley i, a good deal cultivated, and thin h.,t barl. y cakes 

 from dough, baked thr sune morning, and spread first with* 

 butter, and then yvith honev, and folded nr rolled up (like Hi,. 

 lell'of the Abyssinians). form a part of the breakfast bread of 

 all whocanatbml it in Wigtuiuhire. 



H. Orchards. 



Har.-. " Borne proprietors fumi.li their tenants with fruit. 

 tree, tor then gird ns, when they are willing to be at the 

 trouble of cultivating them. Hut, from the scarcity of fruit In 



the country, and the idea that the plundering .,1 an orchard is 



a very venial Ireapau, such as do cultivate them, f equenuj do 

 not gather the fruits. In this we beuera there is nothing 

 pool i .r to (i.iib.way. There are a few market gardens and 

 several nurseries." 



6 Jf'uoi/s ami Plantations. 



Of a very limited extent, but rapidly increasing. John Ear) 

 ot stair jilanted extensively at Mount Kennedy, in the be- 

 ginning of the eighteenth century ; and Douglas Earl of Sel- 

 kirk soon afterwards. The Earl of Galloway, the present Earl 

 ot Selkirk, Murray of Btoughton, and various others, are great 

 planters. H 



7. Live Stock. 



The Calloway bre«i of cattle is well known. The breeders per- 

 haps, in general, understand the management of cattle as well 

 as, or better than, most others in the kingdom. Thev all know 

 how to distinguish a good bull or a good cow from a bad one : 

 and tail not to select from their own stock such as are liest 

 adapted for the improvement of the breed ; and from this ge- 

 neral attention, it no doubt arises, that the cattle in Galloway- 

 are pretty uniformly good. Hut among them have arisen no 

 enthusiasts in the profession ; none who have studied it scien- 

 tifically, or dedicated their talents almost exclusively to this 

 one object. No fair test has yet been given, of whit might he 

 done by a proper select ion of the choicest individuals of both sexea 

 tor breeders, and uniting them in such a manner, as seemed 

 best calculated to diminish their faults and heighten their 

 properties, by crossing the progeny of these from lime to time; 

 and still carefully pursuing proper combinations of the most 

 approved males with the finest females, till the improvement 

 was carried to the greatest perfection of which the breed ts 

 susceptible. No Bakewells, no Culleys, no Collings have vet 

 appeared in Galloway ; who, with a skill, the result of long 

 study and experience, have united sutflcient capital, and by 

 the success of their experiments have made great fortunes, and 

 transmitted their names to the most distant parts of the king- 

 dom, lew of the Calloway cattle (comparatively) are fed for- 

 borne consumption. Dairying with Ayrshire cows has lately 

 been introduced, and very good Dunlop cheese made. 



I ne<fteep for the low districts are of various breeds, those of 

 the highlands the same as in the mountain districts of the 

 counties already described. The South Down is found to an- 

 swer well In Yl'igtonshire, and also the Leicester. 



Horses. Galloway formerly possessed a breed of horses pe- 

 culiar to itself, and in high estimation for the saddle ; being, 

 though small, exceedingly hardy and active. Accustomed to 

 a rugged and mountainous country, and never employed in the 

 yery" b ,a r ' f "VJt s ,refoot ? d ' and -ravelled with spirit in 



i r ;; •, rhL ' y r:: e of a lar « er si * e ,ha " ^ ponies of 



teen h J \ K " e ", °^ the " or,h ' ^"K from twelve to four- 

 ti. n gands high. It is reported that this breed original, d 



■ n i\ !ha,''h,rl h , rS<S ' »"»*««,«« ""Om a vessel of the Ar- 

 ta inears ,r b Tr' wreckei « °" '"e shores of Galloway : but 

 i ,1 , ,y t^ e fr0 "? some "»««(!« in Shakspeare, that the 

 Calloway horses were in repute at an earlier period It is 



"Is" Thi 1i/ e r e ' ,e<1 ' hat ,!,is mcien « ''r«'t is now almos? 

 nT V ik ^" occ ^'oned chiefly by the desire of farmer' 

 to breed horses of greater ,, eight, aid better adapted for the 



