6S HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



farmers from the counties of Renfrew and Ayr, where they 

 are trained for the draught, till they are about five years 

 old ; they are then sold at the fairs of Rutherglen at from 

 £2^ to i^40 each ; thence they are taken to the Lothians, 

 England, &c., where they excel in the plough, the cart, and 

 the waggon.' 



Dr Douglas, in his report on SELKIRKSHIRE of date 

 1796, says that the first thrashing machine in that county 

 was set up in 1796 in Galashiels. Before 1796, there were 

 scarcely ten acres of turnips in the whole county, but they 

 were then rapidly on the increase. Swedes were not in 

 general use, and ' it is not clear that they merit much atten- 

 tion.' As regards cattle, he says, 'no partiality is entertained 

 for any particular breed, and hitherto little attention has 

 been shown to improve the stock.' The farmers, however, 

 ' had chiefly sought to buy such cows and keep such calves 

 as are most likely to give plenty of rich milk. In selection, 

 more regard is shown to shape than to kind.' Dr Douglas 

 adds that ' a bull of the noted Teeswater breed, and remark- 

 ably handsome, was brought down a few years ago to 

 Riddell by Sir J. B. Riddell, Bart. The descendants of this 

 bull are rising to so great esteem among the tenants in the 

 lower part of the county, that some are purchasing heifers, 

 and others sending cows to bulls gotten by him.' Mr 

 Wight, in his survey of 1777, says that Mr Scot of Gala had 

 cows of the Lancaster, the Holderness, and a mixture of 

 these breeds with that of the country. Mr Pringle of Rain- 

 ing had also ' cows of the breed between the Holderness 

 kind and the natives.' The county was wholly stocked 

 with white-faced sheep, except in the tract towards the 

 sources of the Ettrick and Yarrow waters. The white-faced 

 stocks, however, had been produced by the use of Cheviot 

 tups for a succession of years, and were reckoned inferior 

 to the true Cheviot sheep. Dr Douglas notices amongst 

 the obstacles to improvement the existence of thirlage ; but, 

 he adds, ' it is believed that an Act for the abolition of 

 thirlage is speedily to be brought in, under the auspices of 

 the Highland Society, and with the concurrence of Govern- 



