88 



Agriculture of Scotland. 



to 2,000,000/. In 1815 the total rental of Scotland, exclusive of 

 houses, amounted to 5,278,685/. It is difficult/' says Mr. 

 M'Culloch,* " to decide as to the share of the entire rental to be 

 set apart as the rent of 14,000,000 of uncultivated acres, but 

 there are good grounds for thinking that it does not exceed 

 850,000/." Now this would leave a balance, as the rent of the 

 arable land at this time, of upwards of 4,400,000/., showing an 

 increase of 2,400,000/. in the short space of twenty years! So 

 rapid an increase of rent," adds Mr. M'Culloch, " is probably 

 unmatched in any old, settled country." 



Produce. — It is to be regretted we have no sufficiently accurate 

 statistical materials from which a correct estimate can be formed to 

 what extent the increased value of agricultural produce warranted 

 so extraordinary a rise in the value of land. There is little doubt 

 this increased rental is in this instance beyond the proportion of 

 the further price of agricultural produce, and therefore can only 

 be accounted for by the additioncd amount of the productiveness 

 of the soil under a better system of management. We should be 

 inclined to think the produce, in average seasons, at the latter 

 end of this epoch, from good descriptions of land, may be 

 assumed as — 



Wheats 26 to 28 bushels per English statute acre. 



Barley, 38 to 42 „ „ „ 



Oats, 44 to 46 „ 



While the lighter and thinner soils, under the same circum- 

 stances, would yield of — 



Wheat, 18 to 22 bushels. 



Barley, 27 to 30 



Oats, 30 to 35 



There was at this time still a great breadth of a lower descrip- 

 tion of land, affording a less certain, as well as generally a greatly 

 inferior return, which will bring this estimate perhaps even lower 

 than the general average for Scotland adopted by Mr, M'Cul- 

 loch in his Statistical Account, f of 24 bushels for wheat, 28 for 

 barley, and 36 for oats. 



We may fairly then conclude that, besides the greater extent 

 of land which the increased quantity of manure, arising from addi- 

 tional stock, enabled the farmer to cultivate better, the whole 

 value of this increased stock was a clear addition to the produce 

 of the soil ; and, consequently, to the farmer's means of paying 

 rent. 



* M'CuUoch's * Statistical Account of the British Empire,' vol. i. p. 53«. 

 t Page 537. 



