/. TH COUNTY OF FIFE. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Political Economy , as comucted with, or affecting 

 Agriculture. 



SECTION [I. 



IN OT twenty years ago, the roads in Fife were 

 in a very wretched state. In many parts of the 

 county, where roads were evidently necessary, not 

 Only for the safety of passengers, but for the con- 

 veience of the neighbourhood, none were to be 

 seen, except such tracts as had been formed by the 

 occasional tread of horses, the wheels of carts, or 

 the footsteps of the traveller. Even the great 

 roads, to which the principal attention h;id been 

 paid, were, for the most part, intolerable, and, 

 during winter, in many places almost impassa- 

 ble, being unskilfully made, aiid kept in bad re- 

 pair. 



The neglect of an object of so much import- 

 ance, must appear surprising, when the state and 

 circumstances of the county, in other respects, 

 are considered. Fife had been long remarkable 

 for its great population, and the numerous thriv- 

 ing villages it contained. A large proportion of 

 Nn * 



