98 FIELD AND FERN. 



farmers of Ligli standing, the former receiving a small 

 fee for their superintendence, and the latter no pay- 

 ment whatever except for their travelling expenses, and 

 no further acknowledgment but a dinner when they 

 met to strike the " Estimates of Produce." In 1854 

 the Inquiry was extended to the whole of Scotland, and 

 annual returns were made for 1855, 1856, and 1857. 

 It was managed with such tact and economy, that 

 the total outlay fell short of the <:€1 4,900 estimate by 

 j82,778. Owing to difficulties with the Commis- 

 sioners of Audit, v/hose requirements were consi- 

 dered by the Directors as " inconsistent with the 

 voluntary character of the Inquiry, and of the ma- 

 chinery employed, as well as Mr. Hall MaxwelFs 

 position as Secretary of the Society," it was not con- 

 tinued after 1857 and the rank of C.B. was given 

 by the Government to Mr. Maxwell for the services 

 he had rendered. 



The returns were so accurate, that when the head 

 of the Ordnance survey, wishing to try how far Ord- 

 nance maps might be made available for statistical 

 purposes, caused the area of the grain and green 

 crops in Linlithgowshire to be ascertained, the 

 estimates of acreage in the two returns were only 

 found to differ by 316 acres on 29,599. This varia- 

 tion was quite accounted for by the minute official 

 allowance for roads and fences. 



The Society's return gave 43,432 as the number 

 of occupants, and 3,556,572 as the total acreage 

 under rotation of cropping in the thirty-two counties 



