364 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



Winchester bushels), nnd the produce about se- 

 ven bolls (about ibrty-lbur bushels) at an average, 

 the English acre. The (irlot ll-oni which the bar- 

 ley bolf is measured, contains, in the vicinily ol 

 Ury, 33 Scots pints, which is about six per cent, 

 above the Linlilhgow standard. 



It was with this crop that the seeds were sown 

 for the succeeding clover crop, at the rate of a 

 bushel of rye-irrass seeds, and Ironi ten to twelve 

 lib. of the seed of red clover. Such were the quan- 

 tities used when the land was intended to be one 

 year only in grass ; but when it was meant to re- 

 main tor pasture, there was added a portion of 

 white and yellow clover; together with some rib- 

 grass seeds. 



Clover. — This was the last crop in the rotation. 

 About two-thirds of the lands thus sown out were 

 reserved for hay, for which the proportion of rye- 

 grass sown among it properly fitted it. This was 

 partly cut a second time in the same season, and 

 partly pastured after the first crop was removed. 

 The other third part was pastured from the begin- 

 ning, as the great nuiTiber of cattle kept on the 

 lands required to be provided for accordingly. 



In this manner, for two or three, and in some 

 cases, four courses of this rotation, did Mr. Barc- 

 lay employ his improved lands. At last, howe- 

 ver, he laid them down wholly in pasture ; in 

 which they continue to this day, being among the 

 very best in the county. The pasture grounds are let 

 from year to year to cattle-dealers, and fetch a rent 

 of from forty shillings to two guineas and a half 

 the English acre. 



Plantations. — The most brilliant, perhaps, of 

 all Mr. Barclay's achievements, at least that 

 which most adorns the face of the country, was his 

 plantations. These were formed at a moderate 

 expense, and yet have every ap|)earance of becom- 

 ing the most valuable part of the property. And 

 thus combining embellishment with utility^, he ob- 

 tained, at the least original disbursement, the most 

 lucrative prospect in future. 



Mr. Barclay, from the first, had a propensity to 

 ornament Ury with growing timber. Even in the 

 lifetime of his father, he projected and carried into 

 effect some embellishment of this kind, in the vi- 

 cinity of the mansion, which was then but scanti- 

 ly sheltered with wood, while there was not a sin- 

 gle tree on any other part of the estate. This pro- 

 ject, however, the old gentleman did not much rel- 

 ish; partly, because it was an innovation; and 

 partly from a regard to the welfare of his sheep, 

 which were thereby curtailed, in some measure, 

 of their pasture. Young Mr. Barclay, however, 

 persevered in his inten'ion; but was obliged to 

 compromise the matter with tlie sheep, by leaving 

 them free access to the pasture; which put him to 

 the charge of fencing each tree with three stakes 

 and connecting paling, to guard it against depre- 

 dation. This young wood prospered greatly ; 

 and many beautiful trees in it are still pointed out, 

 which he planted with his own hands. This hap- 

 pened about the year 1750. 



This successfiil experiment encouraged him to 

 extend his plantations ; which he did upon a great 

 scale, when, in a few years, he came to the pos- 

 ecssion of the estate, and had the means of grati- 

 fying, uncontrolled, his taste for this ornamental 

 branch of husbandry. The ground which he first 

 fixed on for this purpose, vvas the banks of the wa. 

 ter of Cowiej which^ as already stated, flows for 



! about three miles through the lands of Ury- 

 Through this whole extent, there is a bank shelv- 

 ing on each side towards the stream, on an angle 

 more or less acute, but all too steep lor tillage. 

 These banks are, in sorne places, thirty yards in 

 breadth, and in others, one hundred yardsor more, 

 from the wafer edge to the top of the declivity. 

 Both sides taken together, will at an average, ex- 

 lend to about one hundred yards in breadth on the 

 base; and thus in the course of three miles, will 

 amount to fully one hundred acres. 



The whole of this is thickly planted with deci- 

 duous trees, or what is here called hard wood ; in 

 distinction fi'om the evergreens or firs, whose tim- 

 ber is comparatively softer and of less value. 

 There are, indeed, a few spruce and silver firs 

 planted near the upper margin, to afford shelter in 

 that more exposeo situation. But through nine 

 parts in ten of the whole plantation, there is only 

 hard wood, such as oak, ash, elm, &c. These are 

 abundantly sheltered by the natural warmth of the 

 hollow, which is rendered still more mild from its 

 various windings, occasioning one part to be con- 

 tinually protected under cover of another, from 

 whatever quarter the wind may blow. Nothing 

 can exceed the prosperous state ot" this beautiful 

 plantation. Many of the trees are already nine 

 or ten inches in diameter, and fi-om twenty to thir- 

 ty feet in height below the branches ; and there 

 does not appear to be a iifisthriven one among the 

 whole ; amounting to perhaps 409,000; but there 

 is every rational prospect of, at least, one fourth 

 part coming to complete maturity. The ultimate 

 value must, be very great ; nor can that prospect 

 be at any great distance of time. In less than hall 

 a century hence, the timber wood on this river 

 side (extending to the moderate quantity of 100 

 acres) will be worth more than all the contermin- 

 ous 900 acres of arable land put together; — per- 

 haps to more than even th« whole arable part ot 

 the Ury estate. This assertion will not be deem- 

 ed too rash, when we reflect that hard wood is 

 now selling at from three to five shillings the cu- 

 bic foot; and that many thousands of the trees in 

 this plantation contain already more than ten cu- 

 bic feet of timber each. 



It has already been said, that this improvement 

 was obtained at a moderate expense. The pre- 

 cise amount, however, cannot, at this distance of 

 time, be ascertained ; but it is not difficult to con- 

 ceive pretty correctly what it might be. The dis- 

 bursements, which neither included trench-plough- 

 ing, lime, nor removal of stones, would be limited, 

 1st, to draining of the swamps that originally ex- 

 isted in various places in the banks, and which, 

 from the sloping situation, would admit of great 

 facility in the ojieration ; 2d, of enclosing with 

 ditch and hedge ; 3d, of the value of the young 

 plants ; and, lastly, of the labor of pitting and 

 planting them ; — all which, at the moderate rates 

 that prevailed about thirty-five or forty years ago, 

 may be safely estimated at a sum not exceeding 

 two pounds the acre, or 200/. in all. 



Again ; the annual value of the land thus given 

 up to planting, tidls to be added to the estimate, 

 which will be the greatest article in the account. 

 But this will not, after all, exceed £20 a year, or 

 •Is. the acre ; whi(di considering the general worih- 

 lessness of the pasture, conjoined with its general 

 inaccessibility, will not be deemed too low a rent. 

 If we take the pains to calculate, on the common 



