1S3G.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



539 



duced him to extend his concerns bejond the farm 

 of Frogden ; and he afterwards rented tiie con- 

 titrnous liirms of iMorhtittle Tofts and Grubbet, 

 about three miles distant. On these iarms, the 

 fiirnier of which consists of low lyintr arable land, 

 the latter chieHy of steep hills, bettp.r adapted for 

 sheep pasture, iMr. Dawson repeated all hislbrmer 

 operations ; and the vast improvement efi'ected on 

 the hillsof Grubbet, by means of lime, are still con- 

 spicuous ainoniT the pastures of that district, after 

 111 elapse of upwards of thirty years. Such parts of 

 them as were too ;?teep to be fi-e(iuently brought 

 under tillage, were limed on the surface, after 

 being cleaned by fallow or turnips ; and the lime 

 was harrowed in with the ijrass seeds sown along 

 with the first crop thereafter; — a mode of man- 

 agement by which a small quantity of lime was 

 found to proiluce very beneficial effects in raising 

 and maintaiifmir the finer gras;:es, and which, in 

 such situations, ought to be more generally adopt- 

 ed. 



The consequence of this liberal and judicous ex- 

 penditure was soon visible in the increase of his 

 (brtune, wliich enabled him to purchase and im- 

 prove tlie estate of Graden, an extensive property 

 adjoining to his farm of Frogden. 



During the last twelve or filieen years of his 

 life, INJr. Dawson retired fi-oui the personal super- 

 intendence of his fiu'ms, which then devolved upon 

 fiis two sons, the elder of whom still possesses the 

 farms of JMorbattle Tofts and Grubbet; and trie 

 younger remained at Fron;den til! Mr. Dawson's 

 lease was pi;rchased bj" li\e proprietor in 1812 for 

 a lile annuity of £890. He spent the last years 

 of his life in Fdinburghj where he died, after a 

 few hours illness, on the 29 Jaisuary 181.5, in the 

 eighty-first year of his age. lie had been occa- 

 sionally slightlj' indisposed for a year or two l)e- 

 fbre with the same disease (an ossification of the 

 lieart) which terminated in death; but the gene- 

 ral state of his health was good ; and he retained 

 the full possession of his mental faculties till his 

 last moment. He married the year preceding his 

 entry to the fiirm of Frogden, and has left a nu- 

 merous family in prosperous circumstances. 



Mr. Dawson was exceedingly regular in his 

 habits, and most correct and systematical in all his 

 agricultural operations, which were not only well 

 conducted, but always executed at the proper sea- 

 son. His plans were the result of an enlightened 

 and sober calculation ; and were persisted in, in 

 spite of every dilFiculty and discouragement, fill 

 they were reduced to practice. Everyone wdio 

 knows the the obstacles that are thrown in the 

 way of all innovations in agriculture, by the sneers 

 of prejudice and the obstinacy of ignorance, and 

 not unfrequently by the evil otiices of jealousy and 

 malevolence, must be aware, that none but men 

 of very strong minds, and of unceasing activity, 

 are able to surmount them. Such a man was Mr. 

 Dawson; and to this single individual may be 

 justly ascribed the merit of producing a most fii- 

 vorable change in the sentiments, in regard to the 

 trial of new experiments, as well as in the prac- 

 tice, of the farmers of Scotland. The laboring 

 classes were not less indcbied to this eminent per- 

 son for opening up a source of employment, which 

 lias given bread to the young and feeble in almost 

 the only branches of labor of which tfiey are ca- 

 pable in merely rural districts. JMost of his ser- 

 vants continued with him lor many years ; and 



such as had bencfiied by his instructions and ad- 

 vice, were eagerly engaged to introduce their mas- 

 ter's improvements in other places. His benevo- 

 lence, which often sought for objects at a distance 

 that were not personally known to him, was dis- 

 played not only in pecuniary donations, while the 

 giver frequently remained unknown, but was stri- 

 kingly evinced in tiie aliention which he paid to 

 the education of the children of his laborers, lor 

 whom he maintained teachers at his own ex- 

 pense. If liime were always the rewarii of great 

 and useful talents, there are (bw men of any age 

 or country that would live longer in the gratclid 

 remend)lance of {)osterity than the subject of this 

 memoir. 



In concluding this hasty sketch of Mr. Daw- 

 son's life, and the improvements introduced by 

 him, it is impossible not to contrast, with a feeling 

 oi grateful exultation, the present airricultural state 

 of Scotland with what it was when he commenced 

 his operations in Tiviotdale. Did our limits per- 

 mit, it might perhaps be neither unmstructive nor 

 inconsistent with the present subject, to carry the 

 contrast and the inquiry to even more remote pe- 

 riods ; to trace the fluctuations of that enterprising 

 sfiirit which, on tlie extinction of the Border feuds, 

 reappeared under a more benignant aspect, to en- 

 lighten and fertilize the country its wasteful ardor 

 had so often disturbed. It woiild be curious, too, 

 amiclstthose changes to observe what various veins 

 of intellect the same excitation discloses in differ- 

 ent individuals, and the mutual influence and re- 

 lation between the useful and ornamental arls. 

 But we cannot here enter upon such investigations. 

 It is enough to notice, that the same remarkable 

 district, the scene of so many bloody conflicts — 

 which trained to war and tumult the turbulent he- 

 roes of Border story — the Douglasses, and Homes 

 i and Scolts — can boast, in our own times, a host of 

 ' names more beneficiently illustrious. The houses 

 ; of Home and Elliott have produced Lord Kames, 

 ' Lord Heathfield, raid Lord filinto. Of humbler 

 ! orifrin, Leyden and Park, with all the indefatiija- 

 1 ble intrepidity of their ancestors, have persevered, 

 i and (unhappily for the world) have perished in 

 ' the prosecution of far noble enterprises ; and the 

 I parish of Ednam, which gave birth to the Poet of 

 ; the Seasons, also produced the "hither of Scottish 

 husbandry" — William Dawson. 



From tlie Cultivator. 



FUUIT KEPT SOVNT) IX COTTON. 



We liave been informed, by a gentleman who 

 has had practical proof of its success, of a new 

 mode of keeping fruits fresh for the table, as 

 grapes, plums, &c. a long time after they have 

 been gathered. It is simply to alternate them in 

 layers with cotton batting, in clean stone jars, and 

 to place them in a chamber secure from frost. 

 The discovery was accidental. A servant maid 

 in the llimily of William Morey, of Union Village, 

 Washington county, about to visit her friends, se- 

 cured a quantity of plums in this way, to preserve 

 them till her return. They were found to have 

 kept in excellent condition, lonir after this fruit had 

 disappeared in the garden. From the hint thus 

 aflbrded, Air. Morey, iMr. Holmes, and one or two 

 neighbors, laid down grapes in this manner last 

 iiill, and they enjoyed the luxury of fresh, fine 

 Havored fruit through the winter, until the early 

 part of March. 



