Book 



AGRICULTURE OF WEST LOTHIAN. 



187 



6. Arable Land. 



I'otatoes cultivated bettar than any other crop in the county, 

 and with the greatest success. They are planted on every va 

 riety of soil, and thrie even on the stillest clays where there is 

 a sufficient declivity to carry off" the surface water ; but a gra- 

 velly loam suits them best : about twenty tons of manure per 

 acre is the common dressing. Drilling and dibbling are the 

 common modes in the lowlands, and by large beds in the up- 

 lands ; average produce twelve tons, buteighteea are frequently 

 obtained. 



7. Grass Land. 



Some bog meadows, but no others ; some pasture field* round 

 gentlemen's houses, but none on lowland farms; mountains 

 wholly in natural pasture, "moss, lieath, bog, and moor. 



8. JVoods atid Plantations. 



CoiMewoods form a very important and prominent article in 

 the produce of this county. They cover some thousands of 

 acres of soil which would otherwise be altogether or nearly 

 useless, and yield an income to the proprietors little inferior to 

 what they derive from their best arable land. Tlie steep slop- 

 ing banks of Loch Lomond and Loch Long, where the bases of 

 <he mountains run into the lake, are in many flates covered 

 with them. The thin dry soil which appears in small patches 

 among the rocks seems to be particularly adapted to the growth 

 of oak coppice, which, from its -superior value, is chiefly en- 

 couraged in such situations, while tlie moister and more unfa- 

 vourable spots are allowed to be occupied by less valuable trees. 

 These are chiefly ash, yew, holly, mountain -ash, birch, hazle, 

 aspen, alder, crab, thorn, and willow. The seven last kinds are 

 considered interior in value to the rest, and commonly known 

 by the name of barren timber. 



Copsewoods are cut from the twenty-second to the twenty - 

 fourth year ; after the latter period the bark of oak becomes 

 tiard and corky, and of less value to the tjmner. 



Planiaiiont very generally formed on the uplands, 1000 acres 

 planted at Luss previously to 1794. The Duke of Montrose, a 

 treat planter in Stirlingshire, and partly in this county, allows 

 200 Scotch pine, 400 larch fir, and 1000 hardwood trees, to an 

 acre ; prrfers oak plants of several years'.growth ; and after they 

 Jiave beenestablishcd several years, cuts them down, when they 

 push long and strong shoots. Plants by stellate slits, as already 

 described (3953.), as pits in a retentive soil only serve as a re- 

 ceptacle for -water. Firs, pines, and all trees now regularly 

 pruned. In the Isle of Skye, Lord Macdonald planted^ in 

 1821, 47,500 trees, and received the honorary premium of the 

 Highland Society of Scotland. {Trans. HigM. Soe. vol. vi. 

 p. 268.) 



The finest tree in the county is an ash in Bonhill churchyard. 

 Its trunk is about nine feet high, and, where smallest, upwards 

 of eighteen feet in circumference. Of the three principal arms 

 into which it branches, the largest is eleven, and the smallest 

 near ten feet in citcunierence. The branches ^>read in every 

 idirection with uncommon regularity, covering an area of near 



100 feet in diametcr|and the|ceneral aspect 1 singularly vener- 

 able and majestic. There are no data from which its age caa 

 l)e conjectured. Nearly 100 years ago it was remarked by Mar- 

 sham of Stratton, near Norwich, a celebrated planter-, as one 

 of the first ashes he had seen ; and a tendency to decay in son)e 

 of the boughs seems to indicate that it has stood there for ae- 

 veral centuries. 



Yew trees and hollies abound on the banks of Loch Lomond. 

 A yew at Rosedoe is twelve feet round, and very high ; one at 

 Stockintibbert twenty -eight feet round, and the top spreading 

 in proportion. - 



9. Improvements, 



Some proprietors have drained bogs, and rendered them 

 tolerable meadows ; and drained and planted moors. Mosses 

 sometimes burned, the ashes ploughed in, and the land cropped 

 with oats, &c. 



Irrigation, by means of the rills on the bill sides, tried in some 

 places with success. 



Smbankmenis have been made on a small scale, and some ol 

 considerable extent might be formed with success. 



10. Livestock. 



Highland cattle from Aigyleshire in general use ; but little 

 feeding, dairying, or breeding of this species of stock. Sheep 

 of a small black-fiiced kind bred in the county, to the extent 

 admitted by the upland pastures. Horses, a small hardy breed. 



Bogs increase as the prejudice against port disappears. 809 

 fallow deer occupy two of the largest islands of Lotli Lomond. 

 The stag, or red deer of the mountainsj has disappeared since 

 the introduction of sheep, A few roes still inhabit the wood- 

 lands. 



Bees common. 



11. Political Economy^ 



Manufactures of iron, g'.ass, cotton, paper, alkali ; pr;ntini{ 

 and bleaching works, &c. 



Window glass manufactured cstensively, and equal in quality 

 to any in the kingdom. Pay 50,000/. a year of excise duties ; 

 employ lOjOOO tons of shipph.g, and consume 1200 tons of kelp. 

 The distillery of pyrolignous acid at Milbum employs about 

 seven hands, and consumes daily a ton of small timbtr, chiefly 

 oak, from which the liquor, a kind of coarse vinegar, is ex- 

 tracted. The process beautifully simple. A number of iron 

 ovens, or retorts, are placed in a now, and filled with the timber 

 cut into small pieces. A iire.af coals or charcoal is kindled in 

 a furnace attached to each, and by its heat forces the acid to fly 

 off in the form of vapour. This vapour is <;onducted *y a small 

 tube, proceeding from each retort, into a refrigeratory, or long 

 metal pipe, on which a jet of cold water from above is conti- 

 nually falling. Here the acid is condensed, and runs from the 

 end of the pipe in a considerable stream, of a reddish brown 

 colour. Btsides the Kquor thus procured, which is employed 

 in mixing colours for the calico printers, there is a considerable 

 quantity of tar and charcoal produced during the process, ths 

 value of which is esteemed equal to the expense of fuel. 



7844. STIRLINGSHIRE. 450,5fi0 acres, much diversified by rivers, mountains, woods, and valleys, 

 containing some rich alluvial soil, extensive peat-bogs or mosses, and some bleak hilly districts. The 

 culture of wheat and beans is the chief agricultural feature. Potatoes first cultivated in the fields in this 

 county by Prentice, a farming gardener at Kilsyth. {Belsche's General Fieto, 1796.) 



soil of the best quality ; when dug rst from the natural hefl 

 is of a bnght bhie colour, and ot a substance TeserrtbKng the 

 richest soap, and sometimes even serves as a substitute ftr 

 fuller's eartn. In many piaces the clay is excellently fitted for 



Principal river the Forth, and mountain Benlomond ; the 

 Matter a cone, upwards of '3262 feet high, of sheep-walk, be- 

 longing to the Duke of Montrose. 



Lime, coal, ironstone, granite, whinstone, and freestone 

 -abundant. 



The cane lands constitute one of the most remarkable soils 

 in the county. They lie in a low situation on the banks of the 

 Forth, and extend about tKrty miles in length and two in 

 breadth, at an average. They are eles-ated from ten to twenty- 

 five feet above high-water mark, and a small portion of them 

 in some places is overflowed at times by the river. The soil is 

 universally allowed to be the alluvion deposited by the Forth 

 nd its tributary streams, and consequently to be the spoils of 

 the higher grounds, through which the river takes its course. 

 ft chiefly consists rf a hazel-coloured clay, a small quantity of 

 sand, and a pretty large mixture of once organised matter. In 

 some places are patches of till of various colours ; but not a 

 tone, so l2u-ge as to obstruct the plough, is to be found. The 



making bricks, tiles, and a ooarse kind of crockery ware. The 

 depths are from five to fifty feet. The subsoils are various, as 

 a stiff brick clay, hard till, and sea-shells in a natural state. 

 These beds of shells are from a few inches to four yards in 

 thickness : they are chiefly large oysters, with a mixture of 

 cockles, whelks; and some other shells at present found in the 

 frith. These lands are in farms from fifteen to 100 acres each. 

 In the higher parts of the county the extent is from twenty t0 

 1000 acres. 



Of moors above 90,000 acres. 



Coppice Ti'oods extensive, and plantatioas considerable. 



Carron iron-works of great extent, and w^ known. Large 

 cattle feirs held at Fafkirk. Cliief commerce the shipping of 

 Carron articles for London and other places. 



7845. WEST LOTHIAN or LINLITHGOWSHIRE. 71,5S0 acres of gejitly varied surface, without 

 liills or mountains ; clayey soil, and rather cold and variable climate. The minerals are coal and lime in 

 ^abundance ; freestone, whinstone, and some lead and iron, but the latter are not now worked. The coal 

 at Borrowstonness has been worked tipwards of five centuries. In an agricultural view, the county may 

 be considered on a par with Mld-I,K)thian. (Trotter's General View, 1811.) 



Property is in the hands of abottt forty proprietors, 

 l.ord Stair is supposed to have introduced the culture 

 of clover, turnips, and cabbages at Newliston, in this 

 county, as early as 1720 ; and also the Rotheram plough, 

 for which purpose he sent a mechanic to England, to 

 acquire the art of constructing them. A hay drag, of a 

 very simple hut convenient construction, is used in this 

 county. Plans of a more decent form of cottages {Jig. 1129.) 

 are given than are to te found in some reports. Each 

 cottage consists of two rooms (a, b) ; the one to be used 

 as a kitchen has a space for two press or close beds (c), 

 and in the other room there is a space for one bed {tl) ; in 

 ach room is a cupboard (e), but no closet, which is a great 

 defect. 



The contrivance for making horses draw equally in 

 threshing-machines (2786.), was invented in this county, 

 hjr G. Henderson, of Bonhard. The culture pursi ed is the 

 tast Lothian husbandry on the clays, and the Berwick, 

 shire on the turnip soils. The chief commerce is from 

 the port of Borrowstonness, and there is scarcely any 

 manufactures, unless spinning, knitting, and tajr.bourjn 

 in private families may be named. 



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129 



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fl 



M 



a 



a 



!i*^rFi^\9.^^!^iPA^?"J^^' ^'"20 acres, pnncipally of carse land, on the north bank of tht 

 nver Forth ; but partly of hilly district, belonging to the Ochills. {Erskme's General View, 1795.) 



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