ROXBURGHSHIRE. 



<lented into the fides of thcfe clayey tracts, are pieces of 

 dry land of an admirable quality for producing either white 

 or green crops. Of the arable diftritt at large, at leatt 

 two-thirds may be designated light and dry. 



Agriculture. — Farms in Roxburghshire are of every fw.e, 

 from 50 to 6000 acres ; yielding from 50/. to nearly 3000/. 

 annual rent. The arable farms include, in general, from 200 

 to 500 acres, but there arc lome tar Iris and forne much more 

 exteniivc. One tenant frequently poffefles two or three 

 farms, and there are inftances of the fame perfone leafing 

 both an arable and a lheep farm, to obtain the double profit 

 ariiing from rearing lheep ti> a larger fi/.e, bv wintering 

 them on after-grafs and turnips, and fattening both them 

 and their lambs earlier, and bitter, for the market. With 

 the breeders of that valuable animal, turnips have been for 

 many years a greater object than Formerly, and hence lome 

 farmers have engaged more deeply in arable hufbandry, in- 

 Head of accumulating, as before, pallure farms. The 

 character of farmers in this county, like the extent of the 

 farms, admits of much variety : but it may be truly faid, 

 that the greater part of them are men of refpectability and 

 of agricultural enterprize. Rents are in every cafe paid in 

 money. One or two clergymen, who have a right to tythes, 

 have been accultomed from time immemorial to accept of a 

 fmall fum in lieu of them. Leafcs differ in duration and 

 conditions in the pafturt and arable diltricls. In the former 

 they extend onlv from feven to fifteen years ; but in the 

 latter they are given for nineteen or twenty-one years. 



Confiderable tracts of land here, particularly in the cx- 

 tenfive diltrict of Liddefdale, remain in a (late of nature. 

 The cold wet foil, already noticed, and the expofed fitua- 

 tion, ailord no encouragement for attempting agricultural 

 improvements. This large tract is therefore wholly under 

 lheep paSturage, except a few (trips of land on the banks 

 of the Hermitage and the Liddel. Tjie molt ancient agricul- 

 ture in this county would appear to have been very different 

 from the prefent. The marks of the plough, and of regu- 

 lar ridges, are ltill every where to be fecn upon lofty moun- 

 tains, where no grain can now be produced, and upon a 

 foil which has ceafed to be regarded as entitled to the appel- 

 lation of arable land. Thcfe facts prove that the furface of 

 the country mull have formerly been in a very different Hate 

 from that in which it now appears. The modern improve- 

 ments in agriculture are all adopted here by the arable far- 

 mers. The firllperlon who let the example of fpirited ex- 

 ertion was William Dawfon, efq. a farmer's fon, who, alter 

 receiving a liberal education, was fent by his friends into 

 England, for the purpofe of obtaining a knowledge oi the 

 practical agriculture of that part of the united kingdom. 

 He returned to his native country in 1753, and immediately in- 

 troduced the practice of the turnip hulbandry. At iirll his 

 improvements were confidered as rafii and fpeculativr, but 

 hisfuccefs foon effected a change of opinion. Mr. Dawfon's 

 neighbour perceiving the advantages of the new plan, be- 

 came eager to undcrlt; id and adopt it. The hinds which 

 had once been in his fervice, were lure to find employment ; 

 his ploughmen were in the utmoll requell ; they were tranf- 

 ported to Eall Lothian and even to Angus, and every where 

 diffuled the improved practice of that valuable art. Rox- 

 burghshire became tin- fcene of the molt active agricultural 

 enterprifes ; and Mr. Dawion, independently of having 

 icquired a large property, had the Satisfaction to live tofei 

 himfelf regarded, and hear himfclf called, the father of agri- 

 culture in thefouth of Scotland. 



The rotation of crops ufed in this county have nothing 

 peculiar, or particularly requiring notice. On a dry (oil, it 

 is confidered an object of importance to throw a large quan- 



tity of land under turnip or grafs, especially after lime. 

 One part of Roxburghshire has long been celebrated for ..• 

 early fpecies of oats, denominated Blainfly oats, from the 

 circumttaree of their having been cultivated for time imme- 

 mijrial at Blainfly, a large diltrict 111 the parifh of Melrole. 

 m ar the northern extremity of the county : the average pro- 

 duce there is fix to one, but when they are grown on a rich 

 dry foil, :t is Sometimes 16 or 18 to one. They are fold at 

 an average of 3;. (id. per boll dearer thin common oats, and 

 are only objectionable in one point of view, 'jit. that they 

 arc apt to make out. Abundant crops of wheat are reared 

 in the lower and more fertile diltricts of the county. Bear i; 

 likewife railed in confiderable quantities ; but the culture of 

 peas and beans has become very limited, lince the practice 

 of turnip feeding has been fo generally introduced. Of 

 potatoes, comparatively icw are cultivated ; neither are 

 great crops of hay frequent in this county, on account of 

 Die want of tow ns in which they might find a ready fale. 

 Little flax is grown, except as an object of domeltic manu- 

 facture. It is a remarkable fact, and a Subject of curiofity 

 in agricultural hiitory, that this county was at one time 

 likely to have become noted for the cultivation of tobacco. 

 It was introduced by Mr. Thomas Mann, and was tried 

 both at Newltead and at Kelio with fuch fuccefs, that the 

 legislature deemed it requilite to interfere, and put an end 

 to its culture. 



LiveStock. — Very confiderable numbers of cattle are fed 

 in Roxburghshire, but Sheep is the Slaple animal of the 

 county. The latter are citimatcd at nearly 300,000 in num- 

 ber, and are moilly of the Cheviot breed. A large quan- 

 tity of ewe-milk checfe, of the belt quality, has long been 

 an object of manufacture here, but the practice is now on 

 the decline. The horfes employed and bred here are either 

 of the Englifh or of the Lanarkshire breed. Swine are 

 reared by almoSt every cottager and farm-fervant who is 

 married ; alfo vafl quantities of poultry. Several cart-loads 

 of the eggs of dunghill fowls are weekly collected by 

 " egglers," who fell them in Berwick for the London 

 market. 



Inclofura. — A very fmall proportion of the lands in this 

 county are inclofed. The fence chiefly ufed is ditch and 

 hedge, of which there are two kinds, namely, the double 

 and the (ingle. The double confiils of two ditches, having 

 a hedge planted in the embankment between them. Where 

 (tones can be eafily procured, Stone-dike inclofures are pre- 

 ferred to the hedge and ditch. One of the molt Substantial 

 fences of this kind in the county inclofes about 600 acres, 

 called the " Deer park of Holydean," on the Roxburgh 

 cftate. It is traditionally Stated to have been conllructed 

 before tin' year 1 500. It is about four feet high, and though 

 built of whinllonc only, without lime or mortar, continue* 

 to be a good fence. In a few places dikes are formed o! a! 

 trrnatc layers of Hone and turf. 



Towns, FiHages, and Fain. — There is only one royal bo- 

 rough m this county, that of Jedburgh, which, along with 

 1 he boroughs of Haddington, Lauder, Dunbar, and N<ut.' 

 Berwick, elects a member to ferve in parliament. This 

 place is the county town, and makes a confiderable figure in 

 the hiitory of the border wars. (See Jf.diiukgh.) The 

 other principal towns and villages are, Hawick, which is 

 Situated at the confluence of the Teviot and Slittrid&e, near 

 the lower part of the upper, or mod mountainous diltrict of 

 the county ; Kcli'o, which (lands 011 the northern bank of 

 the Tweed; and Melrole, celebrated for its abbey, each oi 

 which the reader will find deferibed under their refpedive 

 nam. . 



The greatelt fair in the county is held in the parifh of 

 4 N 2 Ledudden. 



