SCOTLAND. 287 



reason for the reduction of twenty per cent here, Scotch 

 and French prices being more on a par. 



How comes it that Scotland has so rapidly attained 

 this high production, in spite of the natural infertility of 

 her soil and climate \ 



Property in Scotland is not so much divided as it is 

 in England, and entails are stricter and more common. 

 The number of proprietors is estimated at 7800, which 

 would give 2500 acres as the average size of properties ; 

 but this high average is owing to the extensive High- 

 land estates, some of which are of 200,000, 400,000, and 

 even 700,000 acres. In the Lowlands there is a much 

 greater subdivision, where the average falls to 500 acres. 

 By far the most extensive proprietor in the Lowlands is 

 the Duke of Buccleuch, whose Palace of Dalkeith is 

 situated in one of the finest farming countries. The 

 other great Scotch noblemen, the Dukes of Sutherland, 

 Atholl, and Argyll, the Marquess of Breadalbane, &c., have 

 the greater part of their estates in the Highlands. De- 

 ducting these large rentals, we find that three-fourths of 

 the Scotch proprietors have an average income of 400 

 to 500 per annum. Two-thirds of the land, producing 

 about one-third of the whole rental, is in the hands of 

 large proprietors, and about one-third, giving the remain- 

 ing two-thirds of income, belongs to the other category. 

 Small property, although not quite unknown, prevails 

 less in Scotland than anywhere else ; less even than in 

 England. Upon the whole, Scotland presents a favour- 

 able specimen of large property. 



With farming it is rather different. The number of 

 farms is reckoned at about fifty-five thousand, with an 

 average rent of 90. This, it will be observed, is the 

 small, or at least the middling-sized farming, rather than 

 the large. The average of farms in England is just 



