312 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



prosperous trades. Salmon-fishing in the rivers, and the 

 North-Sea herring fishery, are great sources of profit to 

 them. The two most southern counties, Forfar and Kin- 

 cardine, are the furthest advanced in agriculture, and 

 almost rival the county of Ayr.* Their prosperity is due, 

 in a great measure, to the Angus breed of polled black 

 cattle, which has been skilfully improved by the native 

 breeders upon the Bakewell principles,t and has as great 

 a name for its beef as the Ayrshire for milk ; nor does it 

 in this respect bear an unfavourable comparison with the 

 best of the English breeds the Durham not excepted. 



The further we go north, richness decreases ; but drain- 

 ing, the cultivation of turnips and forage crops, extra 

 manures, such as bones and guano, subsoil-ploughing, 

 and liming, everywhere convert frightful mosses and 

 barren rocks into good land. One might almost call it a 

 second creation. Every day this part of Scotland is ra- 

 pidly increasing its production of meat and milk. Oats and 

 barley follow the movement, although at a distance ; and 

 wheat dares to show itself in the gloomy and cold county 

 of Caithness the most northerly of all, where at one time 

 myriads of sea-fowl were almost the sole occupants. J 



In one of his interesting agricultural excursions, M. de 

 Gourcy mentions an enterprising Englishman, Mr Mactier, 

 who, after having realised a fortune in the East Indies, 

 purchased a property of twenty-two thousand acres from 



* We think it will be found that the system of agriculture, in the lowlands of these 

 counties generally, is much superior upon the whole to that of Ayrshire. J. D. 



*f* The first to cariy these principles out in application to the Angus breed, was 

 the well-known Hugh Watson of Keillor, who still maintains a superiority in this 

 class of cattle. J. D. 



J It is evident M. Lavergne's happier experience leads him to regard with 

 too great asperity the influence of our northern climate ; and hence the above 

 fctatement scarcely conveys a correct impression of the wonderful improvements 

 lately effected in the North. Cereals of all descriptions, of superior quality, are 

 abundantly produced along the whole north-eastern coast of Scotland, and ex- 

 ported to some extent ; and the wheats of Ross-shire and Caithness vie with those 

 of the Lothians. J. D. 



