38 EARLY SOCIETIES. 



prize of £^ for planting was awarded to the Hon. Charles 

 Kinnaird, Rossiedcn, Perthshire. 



In 1759 the Select Society had a good show of horses. 

 It is noted that ' no fewer than nine stallions were 

 presented at the competition, all very good.' They were 

 shown at Edinburgh on the second Wednesday of July. 

 The premium of 15 guineas for the best draught stallion 

 was won by William Whyte, tenant in Bows, Polmont, 

 Falkirk, for a bay stallion called Red Robin. The 

 premium of ten guineas for the best stallion for improving 

 the breed of saddle horses was won by Mr Carr of Rical- 

 ton, for a bay stallion called Squirrel. This is the first 

 instance in which the names of the horses that won the 

 premiums are recorded. Prizes were also awarded for 

 potatoes, for red clover, for salt butter, and for cow milk 

 cheese. A premium was even given for the ' two best 

 cradles made of willows ; ' and a silver medal for curing 

 smoky chimneys was voted to Alexander Carmichael, 

 mason in Edinburgl;. 



Of the premiums offered by the Society in 1760 wc 

 find a list in the Caledojiian Mercury of loth and 17th 

 March of that year ; but the awards do not appear to have 

 been published, so far at least as we have been able to 

 discover. The Mercury of the 12th April 1762 contains 

 the awards for the year 1761, and we note that the prize 

 for the best draught stallion was adjudged to Robert 

 Mason, Blythswood, Dunse, for his horse Plowman ; while 

 for the best saddle stallion ' there was no award.' In 1762 

 three premiums were awarded for horses. The prize for 

 the best draught stallion was again awarded to Robert 

 Mason for his Plowman. A prize for the best young 

 stallion for saddle, three years old, bred in Scotland, shown 

 at Edinburgh, was awarded to Alexander Johnston of 

 Straiton ; and for second best, to the Hon. Lord Milton. 

 In 1763 the premium for the best draught stallion was a 

 third time awarded for the horse Plowman^ his owner 

 being now described as Alexander Mason, Blythswood, 

 and it is conditioned that the animal be kept at Blyths- 

 wood till the 8th of July. A prize to the best stallion for 



