AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND — 179I-1796. yj 



enclosing had been carried on to a considerable extent. 

 One proprietor, Mr Forbes of Callander, had outstripped 

 all others in the extent and • rapidity of his improvements. 

 Between the years 1786- 1796 he had enclosed no fewer 

 than 7000 acres Scotch, being almost fourteen square miles. 

 Turnip husbandry had been tried in various parts of the 

 county, principally by proprietors of estates, but, from the 

 nature of the climate, and the wetness of the soil, the land 

 had been found to poach. The culture, Mr Belsches also 

 mentions, had been much discouraged by the depredations 

 of poor people and children, in so much that the owner of 

 the field had sometimes been unable to retain above one- 

 half of the crop for his own use. Potatoes were first 

 cultivated in the open field in the county about 1728 by 

 Thomas Prentice, day labourer in the parish of Kilsyth. 

 At the date of the report, their cultivation was universal. 

 Sown grasses had become very general, and their advantage 

 was everywhere acknowledged. Small's plough was in 

 general use. Of thrashing machines, there were several in 

 the county. Men servants got from ^^"5 to £10, with 

 victuals. Horses were mostly bought from Lanarkshire 

 and Ayr. Of cattle, very few were reared. At the great 

 cattle trysts at Falkirk there appeared from 30,000 to 

 50,000 head of cattle, the value of which varied from 15s. 

 to £2^. The old Statistical Account for the parish of 

 Falkirk says that, at the date of the report (1792), 60,000 

 black cattle were on an average shown at the trysts. Most 

 of the cattle were of the small Highland breed, and the 

 medium price might be fixed at £/\ a head. The uplands 

 of the county were occupied with Linton sheep. The Duke 

 of Montrose was, at the date of the report, making experi- 

 ments to ascertain which breed of sheep was best adapted 

 and most valuable for the district. He was inclined to 

 prefer the Bakewell or Culley breed, the lambs of which, 

 reared on his farm for two years prior to the date of the 

 report, had been sold to the Glasgow and Paisley butchers 

 at from 15s. to 25s. a head. 



In Dumbartonshire, according to the report of the 



