70 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and justly complained of as a very great hardship and bar 

 to improvement.' 



The View of Agriculture in East LOTHIAN in 1794 

 is written by Mr Buchan Hepburn of Smeaton. Mr Hep- 

 burn states that Thomas, 6th Earl of Haddington, was the 

 first in the county to sow clover and ryegrass. He also 

 attempted turnip husbandry on his farm of Tynningham ; 

 but Mr Hepburn does not believe that it was continued on 

 the farm. The next person who sowed turnip was John, 

 4th Marquis of Tweeddale, who brought from England a 

 land steward of the name of Wade, sometime about 1740. 

 This land steward raised turnip broadcast upon that part 

 of the lands of Yester in the natural possession of the 

 Marquis, on which he fed a few wedders, and raised their 

 value from 8s. to i6s. Mr Hepburn mentions, however, 

 that it was reserved to Sir George Suttie, the third Baronet 

 of Balgone (who returned from the army soon after the 

 peace of Aix la Chapelle, and had seen in Flanders and 

 also in Norfolk turnip husbandry in high perfection), to 

 introduce, soon after the year 1750, the regular Norfolk 

 system of horse-hoed turnip, barley, clover, and wheat on 

 his farm. It was only, however, within thirty years prior 

 to the date of the report that turnip and clover husbandry 

 came generally to be adopted in the county ; and it was 

 first introduced to any extent by two tenants of the name 

 of Lee, who came from Teviotdale and settled upon the 

 estate of Mr Nisbet of Dirlton, in the eastern part of the 

 county. Potatoes were first introduced into the county 

 about 1740, a year of dearth, when a few were imported 

 from Ireland ; but their culture was confined to gardens till 

 1753 or 1754, when Mr Hay, the tenant of Aberlady, raised 

 them in the field. It was only within a few years before 

 1784 that the plant had become a very general article of 

 food among the common people. The old Scotch plough 

 had yielded to the Rotherham chain plough, while more 

 recently the plough invented by Mr Small, ' as corrected 

 and improved by the Dalkeith Agricultural Society,' had 

 been most generally used. As regards horses, the farmers 



