UTS 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Paut IV. 



of diseases neTer heard of before in Wales ; these are to be 

 ranked among the profits of commerce. 



Horses. The small Welsh merlins or palfrevs are now in many 

 parts nearly extinct : they are a piemy race, and may now and 

 then be found in the hilly walks of the interior of the district. 

 There were formerly a very good breed of liardy strong punches, 

 fit for ridina; and walking upon the farm, being a cross between 

 a good-sized horse and the small merlins ; and very useful they 

 were; but the breed has aljpost been totally neglected and 

 lost : for ihey cross now too much with the large and sluggish 

 cart-horses. 



10. Political 'Ecortomi/. 



Roads as in North Wales, or worse. Road ploughs in use ; 

 a characteristic l)Oth of their state and of the nature of the 

 materiils. Good limestone, however, in the coal districts, and 

 especially in Glamorganshire. Manufactures of woollen in 

 many places ; and, owing to the abundance of oak copses, many 

 hides tanned. Potteries on a large scale at Swansea, Cardiff, 

 and other places. Extensive iron and coal works, lime works, 

 and a slate quarry in Cardiganshire, &c. 



The Lias hmesiene, (lime and iron combined, the stone of a 

 bluiih or greyisli colour,) though found in many parts of 



England, is nowhere so valuable as that at Aberthaw. UTien 

 burnt into lime, it is of a buiF colour, the characteristic, ac- 

 cording to the engineer Smeaton, of all limes setting in water. 

 Lias limestone in all parts has a peculiarity of stratification 

 and exterior character, so that a rock of. it may be known at a 

 distance. The strata are of various thickness, from a few- 

 inches to a few feet ; and those commonly separated by a few 

 inches' thickne* of marley clay. Tl;e ferruginous ingredient 

 seems to be concentrated in the interior part of each stratum ; 

 the outer sides thereof being more porous, and of a paler colour. 

 In inland places the strata are burnt altogether, the argillaceous 

 as well as the ferruginous calcite. Here, at Aberthaw, or other 

 maritime coasts, the strata tumbled down, within reach of the 

 tides, are broken and rolled about, until they are reduced to 

 rounded pebbles or nodules, from a few ounces to many pounds 

 weight ; and these consist only of the nucleus or kernel part, 

 the more useless shell being worn off by the abration or tlie 

 furious tides. These rounded lias pebbles are driven on sliore 

 in inexhaustible quantities. 



Of agricultural societies there are several ; that of Brecon 

 instituted in 1735, the earliest in Britain after tliat of Edin- 

 burgh. 



Sect. III. Agricultural Survey of Scotland. 



7832. The surface of this country is estimated at 18,944,000 acres, in three natural divisions. The first 

 lies north of the chain of Highland lakes, which stretches from Murray to Mull, and consists of little else 

 than dreary mountains and some moors : the second, or middle division, extends from this chain of lakes 

 to the rivers Forth and Clyde j it is mountainous, but cultivated in the valleys, and on the eastern shore 

 to a considerable extent : the remaining division is covered by hills with some mountains, but almost 

 every where cultivated or improvable, and highly favourable for most branches of agriculture. Though 

 Scotland, as elsewhere observed (770.), was far behind England in cultivation till the middle of the last 

 century, it has now greatly outstripped that country, especially in arable husbandry ; a proof that this 

 is the general opinion of enlightened men may be deduced from" the notices just given of the English and 

 Welsh counties, in which it appears that the improvements introduced or attempted to be introduced on 

 arable land are, with few exceptions, the implements and practices of Scotland. In the management of 

 meadows or old pasture, Scotland cannot be conspicuous ; as the climate is not naturally calculated for 

 that kind of husbandry. The winters are too long and severe, and the surface too irregular. In regard 

 to live stock, the palm of improvement was till lately borne away by England ; but though there is not 

 that enthusiasm in Scotland, nor such large prices given for capital specimens, it may be safely asserted 

 that breeding and feeding are conducted as systematically and successfully there as in England. "We shall 

 glance at the different counties in the order of their proximity, beginning with that containing the capital. 

 It may be sufficient to mention here that leases are universal in Scotland, generally for nineteen years, 

 often for twenty-one, sometimes for fourteen, but seldom for a shorter period. The poor are supported by 

 voluntary contributions at the church doors; though an assessment on property, half paid by the pro- 

 prietors and half by the tenants, may be made if necessary, which is not generally the case. Assessments 

 for the poor are common in the border counties and the Lothians, and occasional assessments, imposed 

 upon the same principle, are resorted to in most of the other counties. Voluntary contributions are 

 found inadequate, except in the most thinly-peopled districts. It is therefore a great though common 

 mistake in England, to suppose that there are no poor-rates in Scotland ; but they are comparatively 

 moderate, and will likely continue so wliile the power of assessment remains with those (the landed pro- 

 prietors) who have to bear an equal share of the burden with their tenants. It is here that an essential 

 distinction exists between the poor-laws of England and Scotland. Tithes were commuted for their 

 value in land and land's produce at an early period. Every parish has a schoolmaster, who is paid jointly 

 by the proprietors and the farmers. Tliere is a professorship of agriculture in the Edinburgh University, 

 ably filled by Dr. Coventry, a man of wliom it may be truly said, that he is universally esteemed and 

 beloved. The best account of the agriculture of the Scotch counties is to be found in Black's edition of 

 the Encyc. Brit. Edinburgh, 4to, 1H2!'. 



7833. MIDLOTHIAN, or EDINBURGHSHIRE, contains 220,400 acres; one third hilly and inac- 

 cessible to the plough, and two thirds in tillage, pasture, or wood. 1 he store sheep farming is practised on 

 the hills, and a mixed agriculture on the low grounds. Green crops and potatoes are extensively culti- 

 vated for the Edinburgh market, and most farmers are more indebted to the manure tliey receive in 

 return, than to the soil, or their superior skill -. many of them are townsmen, amateurs, and speculative 

 cultivators. The Dalkeith Farmers' Society, one of the most useful that has been formed, and winch 

 still exists, belongs to this county ; and in it also was founded the British Wool Society, now extinct. 

 A variety of interesting information respecting the progress of improvements in this county, and in East 

 and West Lothian, will be found in Rural Recollections, 8vo, 1829, by George Robertson, author of 

 several county surveys, and whose personal knowledge extends from 1765 to the present time. {Robert, 

 son's Survey, 1795. Edin. Gaz. abridged, 1829.) 



1. Geographical State and Circumstances. 

 Climate free from extreme heats or colds ; snow seldom falls 



on the low parts of the country before December, lies fj cm 

 three to ten weeks. In eifjht years, the greatest quantity of rain 

 that f.ll in any year was 3G.8 inches, and the least quantity 

 9.6 inches. 



Soil much diversified ; lands hanging to the north always 

 the most fertile. 



Minerals. A bed of coal extends across the county from 

 S. W. to N. E. from seven to eight miles in breadth ; worked 

 for two centuries. Limestone, freestone, granite, and whinstone 

 very abundant. Millstones in the parish of Pennycuick, also 

 marble. Some copper and iron ore, marl, and ja.sper pebbles 

 on Arthur-seat. 



Water. Streams inconsiderable. Esk [Vsk, Gael.) the largest 

 river ; few fish from the rivers or streams, but abundance from 

 the firth or sea. 



2. Property. 



About 5-10 estates in the county, divided by the reporter into 

 seven classes ; first class from 2 to 3000/. or upwards ; fifth 

 class 100/. and upwards ; sixth class, least properties ; seventh 

 class, properties of corporate bodies. Total rental in 1795, 

 191,000/. ; Duke of Buccleugh the first proprietor. 



3 Buildings. 



Many gentlemen's seats, and some fine ruins of castles and 

 religious houses. 



A farmer's mains, as it is here called, consisted formerly of a 

 set of low buildings, in the form of a square ; one side was occu- 

 pied by the master himself, whose hatiitation was composed of 

 two or three dismal apnrtments, on an earthen floor, having a 

 low c iling and a few diminutive lights. f)n another side stood 

 the barn, in which the roof timbers, from the idea of giving 



more strength, were built into the wall from the foundation ; 

 the wall itself not being more than five feet in height. Oppo- 

 site to the bam were the stables and the byre, or cow-house. 

 The stables were totally without division, and the horses fed 

 in common ; but the neat-cattle, less passive, were each con- 

 fined to their stakes. The cottages occupied the remaining 

 side : in the midst of all lay the dunghill. These buildings 

 were made of turf and stone alternately, or with stone, and 

 clay for mortar : the roof of thatch, or of thatch and dii ot (turf 

 or sods) intermixed. Further details on this subject will be 

 found in Robertson's Rural Recollections, p. 70. 



Farmeries now in the first style of commodiousness. An 

 example given of Gogarbank farm. 



Cottages formerly very mean, now much improved. Robert- 

 son, in his Recollections, gives a figure of a modem Lothian 

 cottage in its last stage of refinement, which is by no means 

 inviting. 



Farms vary from 100 to 300 acres. Farmers divided into 

 three classes; speculators, converts from other professions; 

 industrious labourers who have acquired some property ; and 

 farmers sprung from farmers. 



Speculators. " In the immediate vicinity of the town, the 

 greater part of the lands are cultivated, not by actual farmers, 

 but what may be more properly ttrmed speculators in agricul- 

 ture, people with whom farming is but a secondary object; 

 thiir chief employment being sUU what was their original pro- 

 fession, as bakers, brewers, innkeepers, or some other distinct 

 occupation ; and who are oftener to be found in their town 

 lodgings, or in their compting-houses, than in the midst of 

 their forms, attending to the operations of husbandry. One 

 certain effect, which the speculations of this class produce, u, 

 that the rent of land is raised ahove its natural level ; ibr, .-is 

 th-jy have always some other business to live by, they are 



