136 THE SUPREMACY OF THE LOTHIANS 



charged, up to 903. per acre, the most highly rented 

 arable land in the United Kingdom probably in the 

 world. Of course there are acres under market- 

 gardening or fruit which command even a higher 

 rental, but nowhere else could 800 acres be found in 

 one block at such a price. The general average of the 

 good land in the Dunbar country was let at about 

 705. an acre ; but the favoured land only forms a 

 narrow strip, and immediately above it on the lower 

 slopes of the hills the rents rapidly fall to 403. or so. 

 Even then the rents are high for the class of land ; 

 and the Lothian farmer has been heard to argue that 

 the poor farming which is but too common in the south 

 of England has been encouraged by the low scale of 

 rents prevailing, and that higher rents are desirable in 

 order to force men to make the land produce more. 

 But this is not likely to be a popular doctrine among 

 farmers. Nor was labour cheap in the Lothians ; 

 the Scotchman who remains on the land demands to 

 be well housed and paid on much the same scale as 

 the man who goes into the towns: but then he will 

 give you value for your money, which cheap labour 

 often fails to do. Our host was a believer in married 

 men who would desire to remain on the farm, but then 

 he considered that profit always came from the good 

 things ; good farming, good seed, good manures had 

 always paid him best. It is noteworthy that these 

 large Lothian farms are all of them rented, though 

 they have remained in the same family for generations. 

 It needs a large capital to work them properly, and this 

 can all be put into the business when the farmer is 

 renting, provided he is reasonably secure of his tenure, 

 as he always has been in the Lothians. 



The good land was divided into large farms ; small 

 holdings did not exist upon it, nor in all probability 



