Agriculture of Scotland. 



103 



the Tweed and the Teviot for about ten miles at and adjoining the 

 confluence of these rivers, having the town of Kelso for its 

 centre, and embraces the parishes of Ednam, Sprouston, Linton, 

 Kelso, Makerstom, Roxburgh, and Eckford. Besides that the 

 writer is, from residence, and intimacy with the great majority of 

 the tenantry, and from possessing in the heart of it a farm of 

 nearly 1000 acres, peculiarly conversant with this district, it is from 

 its perfection in agriculture, as well as from its varied surface and 

 variety of soil, specially appropriate for such an illustration. In 

 the first respect, indeed, it will not be considered, by those who 

 are familiar with the mode of culture and appearance of this part 

 of the country, that we say too much when we affirm that, in the 

 skill and efficiency of its husbandry, and in the fertility of its 

 fields, it is surpassed by no district of the same extent in Scotland. 

 Its whole area extends to upwards of 42,000 acres, the arable part 

 being, with very few exceptions, subdivided into enclosures of 

 from 20 to 40 acres, with substantial and thriving thorn-hedges, 

 in some instances picturesquely ornamented with hedge-row trees. 

 The general character of the soil is a free loam of various depth, 

 composed of a rich sand or gravel upon an open subsoil, the sur- 

 face being more aluminous in its nature as it partakes of the level 

 of the rivers ; the land lying upon the elevated slopes, apart from 

 the rivers, is of a more cohesive nature, imparted chiefly by its 

 resting upon a close retentive bottom. Again, as the country 

 rises to the highest ridges, the soil is generally thin and of a vege- 

 table or peaty substance, frequently incumbent upon a close and 

 nearly impenetrable condensed sand and yellow clay, strongly 

 impregnated with oxide of iron. A very general mode of culture 

 is prevalent throughout the entire district, the leading charac- 

 teristic being that of a rotation of five years. The far greater 

 proportion of the soil being well adapted for the successful culti- 

 vation of turnips, that crop commonly forms the foundation of the 

 course pursued ; and perhaps there is no part of the island where 

 the preparation of the soil for the raising of this valuable esculent 

 is better understood, and where its cultivation is carried on with so 

 much attention to cleanness and order. The drill system is uni- 

 versally prevalent. The drills range in extent from 26 to 30 

 inches, the medium of 28 inches being that generally adopted, the 

 dung (previously well fermented and prepared by turning, or bone 

 dust, as the case may be) being applied in the drill, with few ex- 

 ceptions, immediately before sowing. From the great breadth 

 occupied by this crop, on many farms, the operation of sowing is 

 frequently not concluded until the early part of July, and, in the 

 majority of seasons, turnips sown, even at this late period, prove a 

 valuable crop for spring food ; but, in general, the best season for 



