AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND — 179I-I796. 97 



land in the county was in general occupied by numerous 

 small tenants, who paid from 20s. to £8 or ^10 sterling of 

 rent. No rotation was followed. The live stock of the 

 county was of no very determinate character. In the lower 

 district, there were some Galloway cattle, having been sent 

 by Sir John into the county, and they were found to thrive 

 well. The Caithness horses were about twelve hands high, 

 and the price of middling horses from 5 guineas to 6 guineas. 

 In many parts of the county green crops, turnip, clover, 

 and rye-grass were cultivated with success. Sir John 

 mentions that on the farm of Castlehill, belonging to Mr 

 Trail, a crop of turnips had been raised, which weighed 25 

 tons per Scotch acre. The ploughs in use were very small, 

 and were usually drawn by four horses or oxen. The 

 wages were, for men, £2 to £T) per annum, with six bolls 

 of oatmeal ; women receiving 22s, to 30s. per annum, with 

 three bolls of meal for maintenance. The roads were in a 

 very unsatisfactory condition ; but the county had adopted 

 a resolution to apply to Parliament for power to convert 

 the statute labour into money. 



Respecting the ORKNEYS, Sir John reports that little 

 had been done in the way of cultivating grasses. ' The 

 breeds of horses, black cattle, and sheep are all of a despi- 

 cable sort, and very little attention has been paid to their 

 improvement.' The sheep, he says, were of a very hardy 

 breed, ' in proof of which, they not only existed, but multi- 

 plied abundantly, without receiving food or attention from 

 their owners.' Some Cheviots had been introduced by 

 Captain Moodie into one of the islands, where they were 

 kept apart from the native breed. Horses, though of fair 

 size, were not considered hardy, and the supply was chiefly 

 drawn from the northern counties of Scotland. Turnips 

 throve well, but ' the crop was so little cultivated that not 

 more than six or eight farmers in the islands had field 

 turnips, and the whole yearly quantity did not exceed 30 

 acres.' The Scotch plough, of a small size, was in common 

 use. As regards wages, men servants were only engaged 

 from the 12th of August to the 12th of June, for which they 



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