72 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



every kind in Britain.' Mr Wight, in his survey of 1778, 

 says the Duke of Buccleuch had at Dalkeith made experi- 

 ments with cattle of different kinds, and the best that had 

 been produced were natives of East and Mid Lothian that 

 had a mixture in them of the Holderness kind. Lord 

 Adam Gordon at Prestonhall had good horned cattle, the 

 produce of Holderness bulls with country cows. Lord 

 Hope had a good stock of cattle obtained from Callander 

 in Menteith and the Isle of Skye. Of the horses in the 

 county, not one-half were bred therein, the majority being 

 purchased in the counties of Linlithgow and Lanark. 

 Sheep were chiefly Cheviots, crossed with Herefords or 

 with the Bakewell breed, the latter being mostly in favour. 

 Of the rotations of cropping observed in the county, only 

 that in use in the hilly districts comprehended turnip in 

 the regular rotation. Mr Robertson observes that ' turnip 

 is not so generally cultivated as it ought to be, particularly 

 in the extremities of the county, where there is no excuse 

 for not feeding cattle.' The practice, however, was on the 

 increase, and it w^as probable it might soon become more 

 extensive, ' as the returns were so very lucrative.' Artificial 

 grasses, though in use in the county for about sixty years, 

 had not been generally cultivated for above thirty years. 

 Potatoes were first cultivated in the fields in the county 

 about the year 1744. They were, at the date of the report, 

 to be found on every farm ; but few were raised for sale 

 above six miles from Edinburgh or other towns, the 

 expense attending their carriage being too great. A 

 Farmers' Society had been established at Dalkeith about 

 1738. Its chief object, it appears, was the prosecution of 

 thieves ! The Society comprehended twenty parishes, and 

 the contribution was 6d. on the ploughgate, yearly collected 

 by a farmer in each parish. The annual revenue amounted 

 to about ;^30, although, in extraordinary cases, the contri- 

 bution had been doubled, in order that the funds might be 

 able to meet the burden upon them, ' as it lately happened 

 that a horse stealer in Mid Lothian was pursued into York- 

 shire, where he was capitally convicted, and the horse 

 recovered by the ow^ner, who was sent after him along with 



