Moffat and Upper Annandale. 191 



privies near houses, the use of gauze covers for food, and 

 the destruction of flies by traps and by formaldehyde. 



The lecture was illustrated by lime-light pictures and by 

 pinned and mounted specimens.] 



21st February, 1913. 



Chairman — Mr W. A. Mackinnell. 



Moffat and Upper Annandale in the Middle of the 

 Eighteenth Century. 



By Mr John T. Johnstone, Millbank, Moffat. 



The whole of this district in the middle decades of the 

 eighteenth century was in a very backward state : the houses, 

 with few exceptions, were poor, mean, and very dilapidated, 

 while agricultural pursuits, which were the mainstay of the 

 majority of the people, were also at a low ebb, the ground 

 naturally being of an unfertile nature. A large proportion, 

 even of the low-lying ground in some of the parishes, was 

 peat moss and marsh, and the whole was neither fenced nor 

 drained, and therefore incapable of producing an adequate 

 return for the labour expended. 



But it is from this time that the improvement in the dis- 

 trict began which has gradually increased as the years rolled 

 on, till it can bear comparison in every respect with any district 

 in the country. These improvements were initiated by John. 

 Earl of Hopetoun, a nephew of William, Marquis of Annan- 

 dale, who, owing to the ill-health of the latter, was appointed 

 his curator, and took over the management of the estate. 



The Earl was a most progressive nobleman, with views 

 in regard to the welfare of the people well in advance of his 

 time. During his curatory a minute book of his transactions 

 in regard to the Annandale estate was kept, from 1758 to 

 1767, and it is from it that I am mainly indebted for the 

 information in this paper. 



Among the first of his doings was to employ Messrs James 



