268 



Scotch Farming in the Lothians. 



Vol. Vllf. 



three-year old, Angus breed, but some cross 

 of the Caithness cow and Short-horn bull, 

 quite fat at Iwo years old. Best manure, 

 half rape, half dung; only good when used 

 with dung; buys whole cargoes of rape. 

 The gentleman who farms this, and his two 

 brothers, pay together 4,500Z. rent. 



No. 8. Three hundred acres: 20 miles 

 from Edinburgh. — Much draining going on 

 The first crops of turnips this farm had ever 

 borne, being stiff land, they looked promishig. 



Price of large tiles, 50s. per i;000, 14 inches long. 

 Ditto small, 32s. " ." 



Manure rape, 10 cwt. ) „„. 



Dung, 8 tons \ ^"^ '"''"■ 



Fattens 40 oxen. The three-year-old High- 

 land oxen fatten in four months. 



No. 9. Three hundred to three hundred 

 and fifty acres: 25 miles from Edinburgh: 

 rent about 1,200Z. — Farmer absent; and 

 being the last year of the lease, the greeve 

 was not communicative, thinking we were 

 looking at the farm for ourselves. Seventy 

 acres in wheat, about 5J quarters to the 

 acre, and exactly equal over every inch of 

 the field. The farm nearly without a fence, 

 and almost every yard in the highest state 

 of cultivation. Procures a good deal of ma 

 nure from sea-weed, being not far from the 

 shore. 



No. 10. A farm, or we should call it an 

 estate, of 600 acres, lately purchased for 

 70,000Z., without a single attraction of anv 

 kind, but to a farmer. The proprietor has 

 just laid out about 5,000Z. in a new steading, 

 or farm buildings, compact and complete 

 containing stalls for 25 horses, eight-horse 

 steam engine, and every possible conveni- 

 ence for carrying on so large a concern. It 

 contains numerous pens for stock-feeders, 

 the farm to supply them with turnips for 

 winter, and grass for summer; but it is not 

 intended, I was given to understand, to med- 

 dle with stock themselves, without necessity, 

 following out the plan of attending only to 

 one branch of business. 



The general course of cropping in the 

 Lothians, seems to be — wheat, after summer 

 fallow, or not; turnips, or potatoes; barley; 

 seeds, down for one, two, or three years, as 

 circumstances vary; oats. When further 

 from town manure, and land stiffer, a crop 

 of beans and peas is taken. In East Lo- 

 thian we saw comparatively few potatoes, 

 whilst in West Lothian it appears to be the 

 grand crop.* 



* The following may be taken as a good sample of 

 the four years course of husbandry, in the West Lo- 

 thian, on a farm of 180 acres, between three and five 

 miles distance from Edinburgh; 



The best approximation I could learn, as 

 to the division of the gross proceeds of a 

 farm, gives — 



Rent, 33 per cent. 



Kxpcnses, 47 do. 



Profit and Interest, , 20 do. 



100 



I have thus endeavoured to give, in a 

 somewhat unconnected way, the result of 

 my observations on the Lothian farming, 

 tvkere high rents, high profits, and a icell- 

 paid and contented peasantry,^ are all seen 

 combined in a pleasing union. 



There is as wide a difference between the 

 system existing there, and in these parts of 

 England, as between that pursued in the 

 small detached spinning-mills of thirty years 

 ago, and what is now practised in the first- 

 rate factories! 



It is an interesting question, but one I am 

 not going to enter upon, how this improved 

 system of cultivation can be introduced into 

 England, particularly into our own and the 

 neighbouring counties? Where are the 

 landlords ready to grant a 19 years' lease] 

 Where, the farmers of sufficient intelli- 

 gence and capital to manage successfully, 

 500 acres, and willing and able to lay out 

 1,000Z. to 1,800Z. in draining alone, during 

 the first two years of their lease ! Where, 

 the ploughmen, educated enough to convert 

 into bailiffs, on such farms, for an extra shil- 

 ling a week ? 



I am inclined to think the vmre generally 

 diffused and more practical education of the 



First year 4.5 acres Potatoes. 



Second year 45 Wheat. 



T'-'year j i^ = Sps! 



Founhyear l^ZZ ^^^J^^JIH^. 



IPO 



In the East Lothian, the following is a common six- 

 year course, at ten to twenty miles distance from Ed- 

 inburgh: 



t The general style of living amongst the peasantry, 

 is somewhat lower than in England, and a large pro- 

 portion of their diet being very economical, namely, 

 oatmeal porridge, the same wages go further, and leave 

 a larger surplus fur other expenditure, than with us. 

 Less mo.ney goes in fine flour, tea, and sugar, and less 

 at the beer-shop, than with us. Neither here, nor 

 there, do the common labourers get much animal food. 

 In every part of Scotland, from the intelligent Lothian 

 reeve, to the bareheaded, barefooted Celtic girl on the 

 mountain side, we found pleasing and convincing 

 proofs of the effects and universality of education. 



