PLOUGHING COMPETITIONS. I47 



was awarded to^Thomas Crawford, servant to Mr John 

 Denholm, Dunsyre ; and the second prize, a silver medal 

 and £\ us. 6d., of William Weir, son of Robert Weir, 

 Rawhills. The ploughing was in general well executed ; 

 and the company present were highly gratified with the 

 emulation which appeared amongst the competitors. In- 

 deed, such was the interest diffused by the idea of premiums 

 being given by the Highland Society, that an immense 

 crowd had assembled, many of them from a distance of 

 fifteen or twenty miles, and they remained upon the ground, 

 without manifesting the least impatience, from nine o'clock 

 a.m. till long after sunset. These onlookers were no idle 

 crowd. They consisted chiefly of farmers and their servants, 

 blacksmiths and carpenters, all of whom seemed eager to 

 acquire knowledge in their respective lines. 



The. Tivelfth Ploughing Match (being the second held 

 in Lanarkshire) took place at Columbo, near Carstairs, on 

 the 8th November 1805. Thirty-five ploughmen appeared 

 as competitors. The three first prizes were decided as 

 follows : I Thomas Crawford, servant to John Denholm, 

 Dunsyre ; 2 George Elder, brother of Hugh Elder, Car- 

 stairs Mill ; 3 William Brown, servant to Archd. Prentice, 

 Covington ; and these premiums were distributed accord- 

 ingly, except the medals, which were given to the 2nd and 

 3rd, as Thomas Crawford had got the first prize last year, 

 and was only allowed to stand as the other competitors 

 wished it. The crowd of spectators, which greatly exceeded 

 that of the previous year, was highly gratified with the 

 emulation which appeared amongst the competitors. 



The Thirteenth Ploughing Match (being the third held 

 in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright) took place at Kenmore, 

 in the Glenkens or Highland district of the Stewartry, on 

 Thursday the 14th November 1805. There were a great 

 number of gentlemen and farmers, and above a thousand 

 spectators. Twenty-three ploughs started at noon, nine- 

 teen drawn by two horses each, and four by two oxen each. 

 Every lot was finished by half-past two o'clock, when the 

 judges awarded the first prizes and medals as follows : To 

 ploughmen with two horses — William Cairns, in Hardland. 



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