KIRKCUDBRIGHT. 



467 



on each side the Dee, while they have encroached but 

 little on the arable lands, whose winding border they 

 generally follow, they have greatly contributed to shel- 

 ter and adorn the surrounding country. Several other 

 proprietors have, within the same period, made exten- 

 sive plantations, and event' year is adding to their num- 

 ber. The pinaster and the Huntinglon teilloit, are rec- 

 koned best calculated to brave the deleterious effects 

 of the westerly sea breeze. 



: ' In the lower district of the stewartry, the average 



size of farms is reckoned at about 200 acres ; and the 

 ordinary length of leases at about 19 years. There 

 are, no doubt, many exceptions to both averages ; and, 

 of bite years, owing to the rapid and extraordinary rise 

 of prices, the length of leases baa been very generally 

 reduced. In the mountainous district, a single farm 

 frequently contains several thousand acres. 



Wheat appears to have been formerly cultivated in 

 this district to a considerable extent. In 1300, when 

 Edward I. invaded Galloway, he exported considerable 

 quantities of wheat from Kirkcudbright to Whitehaven, 

 nd other ports of Cumberland ; and, at a still later 

 period, a great proportion of the stipend, or teind, be- 

 longing to the Catholic clergy, was paid in this grain. 

 In more modern times, however, its culture seems to 

 have been nearly abandoned. The excellence of the 

 Galloway breed of cattle, and the natural aptitude of 

 the soil for grazing, were perhaps the chief causes of 

 the decline of tillage ; and probably contributed to 

 render universal the restriction* in leases, by which a 

 tenant was strictly prohibited from breaking up more 

 than a third or a fourth part of his farm, however well 

 it might hare been adapted for the plough. But the high 

 prices subsequent to 1797, again promoted cultivation, 

 and comparatively large crops have since been raised. 



At the system of cultivation prescribed in modern 

 lease*, is chiefly regulated by the quality and state of 

 the soil, the clauses relative thereto vary as they are 

 applied to different farms. In general, however, in 

 good tillage lands, only one white crop is permitted to 

 he taken, which must be followed by green crop, or 

 fallow lufficiently manured. Lands leas adapt 

 tillage, when laid down in grass, are generally allowed 

 to lie 8 or 10 years, and, when ploughed up, two white 

 crop* are taken, followed as before by green crop and 

 fallow ; then another white crop with grass seed* ; 

 then hay ; and lastly pasture. In farms appropriated 

 to tillage, one-third of the content* are in corn crops, 

 one-sixth in green crop or fallow, one-sixth hay, and 

 one-third ja-ture; and wheat is only permitted to be 

 introduced once in every successive rotation. In farm* 

 chiefly u-ed for rearing cattle, the tillage is, as formerly, 

 restricted to one-third or one-fourth of the arable land. 

 The average produce per Scot* acre, on the tillage 

 farm*, may be stated as follows, vii. wheat 30 to 35, bar- 

 ley 45 to 50, and oat* 40 to 50 Winchester bushels. 



The modern farm-home* and office-houses, which are 

 a. excellent, are generally built by the landlord. The te- 

 nant ronictimes pay* a sum a* interest for the capital 

 so expended. More generally, however, this is inclu- 

 ded in the rent. 



.. The implements of husbandry used in the tillage 



*. /arms of the stewartry, will bear a comparison with any 

 in the kingdom. Thrashing machine* are generally in- 

 troduced ; and the old Scot* plough, which was long re- 

 tained, owing to its being supposed best fitted for the 

 Money nature of the soil, ha* now given place to those 

 of Smart, and other modern artists. The carts, which 

 are all drawn IT single bones, are not surpassed either 

 in neatness or durability. 



The stewartry is every where enclosed, generally KirkcuJ- 

 with stone dykes of a very superior construction. These bright. 

 vary from four to six feet in height. They are gene- 

 rally built three-fourths of their height double, and 

 then are covered with a flat stone projecting two or 

 three inches on each side, over which are placed one or 

 more stones, to the height perhaps of eight or ten inch- 

 es, laid single. The best dykes, however, are those 

 built with lucked Ions, consisting of flat stones laid on 

 edge, in lieu of the single stones. This contrivance 

 binds the top so firmly together, that it requires a con- 

 siderable force to displace any one stone. Hedges have, 

 of late years, become much more common, especially in 

 the moist lands requiring drainage. 



The roads, which were formerly wretched, have been Road* 

 astonishingly improved during the last 30 years. The 

 new lines are laid out with considerable judgment ; and 

 notwithstanding the hilly nature of the country, are 

 uncommonly level. As a proof of this, it may be men- 

 tioned, that in the great road from Dumfries to New. 

 tonstewart, a distance of 52 kniles, the acclivity, where 

 greatest, is only one foot in forty. Some very expen- 

 sive and elegant bridges have been lately erected. The 

 principal arch of Tonjiueland bridge, near Kirkcud- 

 bright, measures' 110 feet in span; and the entire ex- 

 pence of this bridge amounted to near 8COO Sterling. 

 By the act of 1"!X>, the road trustees are invested with 

 the power of assessing the landed proprietors to the ex- 

 tent of 30*. Sterling on every one hundred pounds 

 Scots of old valuation, for the purpose of forming paro- 

 chial roads, bridges, c. Tolls having been established 

 on the other roads, the greater part of them have been 

 constructed from subscriptions advanced on their credit. 



The rearing of black cattle, forms the great object Breed of 

 of attention with the farmers of the stewartry of Kirk- l - altlc - 

 cudbright. The genuine polled Galloway breed, is 

 reckoned one of the very best in the kingdom ; but as 

 a particular account of it has been given in the article 

 AGRICULTURE in this Encyclopedia, it seems unneces- 

 sary again to notice it* peculiarities in this place. The 

 black cattle are almost all raised for the English mar- 

 ket, and are sold periodically during the whole season ; 

 but the principal sale takes place in the month of Sep- 

 tember, when they are in the best condition. Those 

 that are three year* old, fetch from 10 to 15 a 

 piece. They are reared on inferior upland districts, 

 and are purchased at two years old by the graziers, 

 who possess the rich old pasture land in the lower dis- 

 tricts, at about . 6 or S a piece. There are many 

 instance*, in which one Scots acre of the latter descrip- 

 tion of land, will feed a bullock sufficiently fat for the 

 shambles in one season ; and very large tracts only re- 

 quire about 1^ acres for the same purpose. Cattle of 

 one year old are denominated ttirtct, and sell at from 

 Sto5* piece. 



A few sheep, of various breeds, are kept in the lower Sheep. 

 district, though but little attention has been paid to the 

 improvement of the race. The black-faced breed are 

 universally kept by the sheep-farmers in the hilly dis- 

 trict. They are rather smaller sized, and coarser wool- 

 e<l, than the sheep of Twesddale and Cheviot. They 

 endure cold and hunger to an incredible degree, fatten 

 extremely well, and the meat is excellent The dairy 

 has always been a secondary object of attention with the 

 Kirkcudbright farmers ; and the quantity of cheese and 

 butter, manufactured for the market, is but inconsider- 

 able. A very considerable number of swine are raised in 

 the stewartry, about one third of which are exported. 



The Galloway breed of horses, long famed for their Breed of 

 superior spirit, and for their fitness to endure fatigues, How*. 



