:hap. XI. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 



CHAPTER XL 



Commons a?id Wastes. 



THERE is now very little uappropriated land 

 in Fife. The commons have, of late, been 

 mostly divided, and applied either to cropping, 

 or pasture, or planting, according to the quality 

 of the ground, or to the taste and views of the 

 several proprietors. In the management of these 

 divided commonties, an error may be commit- 

 ted. The desire of immediate profit may blind 

 the eyes of the proprietors, and induce them to 

 appropriate a greater proportion of them to til- 

 lage and pasture, than is proper. This ought 

 to be guarded against. Most of the grounds in 

 question, it is apprehended, are incapable of be- 

 ing improved to advantage, except by planting ; 

 that is, they will in no other way yield an ade- 

 quate return for the expences that must necessa- 

 rily be incurred. 



Of a different description, however, is the ex- 

 tensive commonty of the Lomond-hills. This 

 commonty contains from 3000 to 5,500 acres, 

 free from heath : the sward is verdant and kind- 

 ly, chiefly composed of sheep's fescue, white- 

 clover, and other good herbage, inferior to no 

 ground in Scotland, of equal extent, for grazing; 

 either sheep or young cattle. 



