152 OP THE SOIL, &C. 



The farmer must also suit his system to the elevation, 

 and even the exposure of his farm. The same plan will 

 not answer at forty and at four hundred feet above the level 

 of the sea; nay, much may even depend on the exposure 

 of a farm, when situated in a hilly district. Where the soil, 

 the climate, and the elevation is similar, the same crops can- 

 not be cultivated, with equal advantage, on the northern, 

 as on the southern side of the same hill. 



The farmer must also take into his consideration, the 

 articles most likely to suit the markets in his neighbour- 

 hood, or any others to which the produce of his farm can 

 be sent ; for instance, if there is no demand for fat cattle in 

 the vicinity, he must employ his turnips in feeding young 

 cattle, to be sent to other districts where they can be pre- 

 pared for the butcher. On farms in the interior of Scot- 

 land, where wheat is not much in demand for bread, and 

 where markets for that article are not accessible, either by 

 good roads or water carriage, the culture of wheat is not to 

 be recommended, and oats will be found, not only less ex- 

 hausting to the land, but also more profitable. 



raised, without the aid of lime, which would now be considered imprac- 

 ticable. To account for this, and for the necessity 01 ascending so high 

 with cultivation, is not easy. The lower grounds may have been too 

 much wooded, which might occasion mildews, and these woods approach- 

 ing the high grounds, would moderate the climate there. Certain it is, 

 that for the two or three last years, the crops raised on the highest grounds 

 of Dumfries-shire, have been more productive than on the holms of the 

 dales. 



