196 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



7857. INVERNESS-SHIRE. Upwards of 7,000,000 of by far the most mountainous region in 

 Scotland. It reaches from sea to sea on the main land, and comprehends many islands, which are scat- 

 tered far and wide. The hills and moors were formerly covered with fir woods, the remains of which are 

 dug up in all the moors in abundance. The climate is rainy, mild on the west coast, but less so on the 

 east. The soil of the vales is loamy or gravelly. The principal economical minerals are granite, lime- 

 stone, and slate ; but lead, iron, marble, &c. have been found in different places. The county is remarkable 

 for its native fir woods, and for that stupendous national work, the Caledonian Canal. Improvements 

 were first commenced about Inverness by Cromwell's soldiers. {Robertson's General View, 1810.) 



1. Property. 

 In few hands ; larffcst. Lord Macdonald, of the Isle of Skje, 



the only nobleman who resides In the county. The mountain 

 farms are large, and, as In similar cases, reckon by miles, or 

 by the number of sheep they are supposed to carry. 



2. Gardens and Orchards. 

 To be found in a few places ; and some old pear trees, planted 



bv the monks, are still in a bearing state at Beauly, and one or 

 two other places. There is an excellent fruit and forest tree 

 nursery at Inverness. 



3. Woods and Plantations. 

 The Scotch pine, for the most part, took possession of the 



south side of the valley, and made choice ot a northern ex- 

 posure ; the birch, the hazel, and the oak, occupied the warm- 

 est side of every district ; while the alder and a few jishes 

 ran along the streams. Not only the continental parts had 

 this natural mantle, but the islands of this country appear, 

 from the fragments of trees found in the mosses, to have been 

 at some remote period, mostly, if not wholly, under forests. 

 The only remains of growing wood at present In the islands are 

 at Portree and S'ate in Skye, and a little in the island of Kaasa. 



Trees were burned or felled to make room for men, by en- 

 larging the p.asturage of catt'e, and affording fresh surface for 

 com. 4t present the Scotch pine covers more surface in this 

 county, than all the other kinds of trees taken together ; and 

 the natural pine-woods of Inverness-shire exceed the quantity 

 of this wood growing naturally in all the rest of Britain. In 

 Strathspey alone, it is reported, upon authority which cannot 

 be ca'led into question, that fifteen thousand acres of ground 

 are covered with natural firs. On the south-side of Ix)char- 

 kaig, of Glengarry, of Glenmoriston, Strathglas, Glenstra- 

 faras, and at the head of Lochsheil, as mentioned above, the 

 bounds of country under this wood are reckoned by miles, not 

 by acres. The oak woods of this county are not so large, nor 

 so well taken care of, as they are in Perthshire. 



There are extensive birch woods, the timber of which is a=ed 

 for fencing and the coarser articles of husbandry, and the bark 

 for tanning. 



4. Live Sfocfr. 

 Cattle are of the Skye or Ky'oe breed, usually, however, 



known as the highland breed, and already described. (6796.) 

 The cows yield only half the quantity of milk of the breeds of the 

 low counties; generally from two to two gallons and a half; 

 but it is rich, and productive of butter of exc-ellent flavour. The 

 diseases of highland cattle are few. The manner of disposing 

 of cattle is as follows : ^Vhen the drovers, from the south and 

 inferior of Scotland, make their appearance in the highlands, 

 which always happens during the latter end of April, or th- 

 beginning of May, they give intimation at the churches, that 

 upon a particular day, and in a central place of the district, 

 they are ready to purcha.se cattle from any who offer them for 

 sale. The drovers are of two descriptions : either tho>e who 

 buy by commission for persons of capital, who, being diflSdent 

 of their own skill, or averse from fatigue, choose to remain at 

 home ; or those who purchase cattle on their own account. 

 Much address is used on both sides, to feel the pulse of the 

 market at these parochial meetings, before the price of the 

 season is mutually settled ; and it may happen, that many such 

 small trysts or meetings take place "in dilferent parts of the 

 highlands, before the price be finally determined. The anxiety 

 on both sides is sometimes so great, that the cattle are given 

 away upon a conditional contract, that if the price rises within 



7858. ARGYLESHIRE. 2,433,000 acres; the eleventh part of Scotland, and the thirtieth of Great 

 Britain, and nearly the whole of the Scottish kingdom from A. D. 503 to the subjugation of the Picts in 

 843. The surface of the country is rough and mountainous : in the northern parts " Alps piled on Alps 

 hide their heads in the clouds." The climate is moderately mild, very moist in the vales and on the coast, 

 but cold and severe on the elevations. The soil of the vales is generally light ; the minerals are copper, 

 lead, iron, coal, strontian, freestone, granite, hmestone, marble of several different colours, slates, &c., but 

 the two first are not worked at present. There are numerous bays, inlets, and lakes, in some of which 

 excellent fish is caught. The county is in no respects remarkable in an agricultural point of view ; it 

 furnishes immense quantities of cattle and sheep to the graziers and feeders of the south ; and there are 

 some oak coppices and artificial plantations. {Smith's General View, 1810. Edin. Gaz. 1827.) 



a limited time, the seller will receive so much more ; but if 

 the lean cattle fall in value, the drover will get a reduction. 



Sheep are extensively reared, and generally of the Linton or 

 Lammermuir black-faced sort. The Cheviots are eilso very 

 prevalent. 



Horses either the native pony or improved breeds from the 

 low countries farther south. 



Roes are frequent in a wild state in all the woody and warm 

 glens. 



5. Political Economy. 



Roads and bridges have been going forward at the expense 

 of Government ever since 1745, and earlier ; and the Cale- 

 donian Canal is well known for its magnitude and the excel- 

 lence of its execution. There are various fisheries on the 

 lakes and coasts ; but few manufactures. 



As one of the obstacles to improvement, common to this and 

 the other highland counties, and indeed to every county, the 

 reporter mentions the stubbornness of the common people, in 

 adhering obstinately to old and slovenly habits. As men rise 

 in years, the reluctance to make any uncommon exertions, and 

 particularly to introduce change into any thing, which relate* 

 to their personal accommodation, gradually grows upon them. 

 Having been long accustomed to a certain course of employ- 

 ment, of gratification, of lodging, of dress, and of food, they 

 resist strenuously the relinquishment of any of these habits ; 

 they move on in the current of human life mechanically, like a 

 wheel, without any apparent alteration in their motion, unless 

 it be accomplished by some external force ; and, if left to them- 

 selves, tliey never change their course. This propensity to 

 remain the same men, and to retain the same customs, is rnore 

 unconquerable among the illiterate and ignorant, than among 

 the learned or enlightened part of mankind. By means cf so- 

 ciety, of conversation, and of reading, the latter acquire an 

 enlargement of the mind, to which the former are strangers ; 

 and if they be accustomed to reflect on what they hear and see, 

 they are always more open to convtction. When that raulish- 

 ness of the disposition, which, whether in the rich or the poor, 

 the uncultivated oi the refined, is still the child of ignorance, 

 takes fast hold of the mind, it becomes so obstinate, that it can 

 seldom or never be removed. Its universality would lead to 

 theopinion, that it is an original principle in the human frame ; 

 its progressive influence, which increases with age, and the 

 apology which such men urgt in their own defence, that their 

 fathers did such things before them, would imply that it is the 

 niiWt of imitation. 



The reporter, notwithstanding the above sentiments, goes on 

 to state that he considers that the prosperity of the world would 

 be more promoted by the stendiness and obstinacy of men living 

 in error, than it would be by a spirit of fickleness, and a desire 

 of change. It mijfht easily be shown that the real meaning of 

 such a sentiment is, that those who are already prosperous, 

 that i.*, those who have already a sufficient share of the good 

 things of life, will stand least charcc of losing what they have, 

 while things remain as they are. The prosperity of the world, 

 it unfortunately happens, has hitherto been too frequently un- 

 derstood to mean the prosperity of those only who are already 

 prosperous. This state of things is in the natural course of 

 the progress of society from darkness to light : but it w ill pass 

 away in its turn, and the time will come when the prosperity 

 of a people will really mean what the woids import. When 

 this time arrives, what the reporter would probably call fickle- 

 ness, and a desire of change, will be found to have had some 

 share in bringing it to pass. 



1. Property. 

 In the hands of 156 owners. Farms of the smaller size 



reckoned b^ acres, the largest by miles. One, supposed to be 

 the largest m Britain, is eighteen or twenty in lenijth, by three 

 or four miles in breadth ; several contain from two to six square 

 miles : object, as in Inverness-shire, tlie bleeding of cattle 

 chiefly, and next sheep. 



2. Improvements. 

 Have been made by most of the proprietors : some plans of 



farmeries are given by the rej)orter. One is circulnr, and con- 

 sists chiefly of cattle sheds ; but the elevation is of that mongrel 

 Gothic, which is displayed in most of the modem highland 

 chateaus. The fin-share or Argyleshire plough (2618.) was in- 

 vented in this county by the reporter. 



3. Woods and Plantations. 

 There are about 30,000 acres of coppice, chiefly oak, birch, 



and hazel, which, being now valuable for the bark, and the 

 poles to be used as spokes for wheels, is beginning to be en- 



7859. The HEBRIDES, including BUTESHIRE, consist of nearly 300 islands, eighty-six of which 

 are inhabited, and contain 2,037,760 acres of rocky, hilly, and, in some islands, mountainous country, with 

 a severe, unsteady, moist climate, and a soil generally light. Almost all the minerals are found with 

 which the continental part of Scotland is furnished. Slate, lime, granite, marlile, and freestone, are in 

 great abundance ; and coal has been found in various places, though it has not been successfully worked. 

 Steatite, or soapstone, from which porcelain is manufactured ; fullers' earth, and a great variety of other 



closed from the sheep by stone walls. The Duke of Arfryle is 

 the chief plante-, and his larch plantations are of great extent, 

 and contain an immense quantity of valuable timber. The 

 oldest and largest of the trees. at Inverary are supposed to have 

 been planted by the Marquess' of Argyle between tne years 1650 

 and 1660. Those of the next largest size and age were raised 

 from the seed by Archibald Duke of Argyle (called a tree- 

 monger by Walpole), in 1746 or 1747. These consist chiefly 

 of larches. New England pines, spruce and silver firs. 



4. Live Stock. 



Cattle, the west highland breed ; the best in the districts of 

 Argyle, Lorn, Hay, Colonsay, and Mull. 

 Sheep, till lately, much neglected. 

 Horses, a hardy native breed, larger than the pony. 



5. Political Economy. 



Roads as in Invemess-slire. A canal from the coal works in 

 CampbeKon to the sea: few manufactures. An agricultural 

 society at Kintyre. 



