56 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the use of which he gave gratis for the cows of his tenants. 

 The one he had at the date of report ' cost forty guineas. 

 It was of a chestnut colour.' Mr Wight, in his Survey of 

 Roxburghshire, made in 1776, says of Cavers : ' This place 

 has long been remarkable for a valuable breed of cattle. 

 They are of the county breed, mixed with that of Holder- 

 ness.' In Castleton, the native parish of Dr Armstrong, the 

 ' black cattle,' besides the Dutch and Lancaster, embraced 

 the ' Galloway kinds.' The reporter for the parish adds — 

 ' The butter which is made in this parish, even from the coars- 

 est pasture, is not excelled by any in Britain.' The county 

 was largely stocked with sheep. The number was esti- 

 mated at 260,000, chiefly of the Cheviot breed. ' A few of 

 Mr Bakewell's breed were no strangers to the arable farms, 

 where they throve very well.' Small flocks of the Linton 

 black-face kind pastured on the more exposed and colder 

 districts. Horses were mostly of the ' English breed, hav- 

 ing a considerable mixture of the blood,' but ' Lanarkshire 

 horses were fast getting into the county.' As regards im- 

 plements, Small's two-horse plough was in general use on 

 light soils, but the common Scotch plough, sometimes of a 

 light construction, was preferred on stiff clay land. The 

 lately invented thrashing machines had found their way into 

 several places of the county. ' Thrashing with the flail 

 was generally preferred. Fanners were universally used.'* 



Dr Johnston, minister at Hollywood, a native of 

 Dumfriesshire, furnishes a report on that county, dated 

 November 1794. Dumfries is naturally divided into 

 three districts, named after the rivers Esk, Annan, and 

 Nith. In Eskdale, the hills, Dr Johnston reports, were 

 covered with a very good kind of large sheep, with 



* The winnowing machine, according to the best information, first made 

 its appearance in Hawick. Accounts, well authenticated, state that Andrew 

 Rodger, a farmer on the estate of Cavers, having a mechanical turn, retired 

 from his farm and gave his genius its bent ; and probably, from a description 

 of a machine of that kind used in Holland, constructed in the year 1737 the first 

 machine fan employed in this Kingdom. In the year 1740, he sent many of 

 them into the northern parts of Northumberland. — Rev. Mr Gillan's Report on 

 Hawick Parish, 179s, 



