Agriculture of Scotland. 



105 



Turnips . . . 6000 

 Fallow ... 700 

 Potatoes, &c. . . . 550 



In the latter part of the last century, previous to 1795 at least, a 

 great part of this fine district was unenclosed, and excepting the bet- 

 ter description of land upon the immediate vicinity of the rivers, ex- 

 hibited the dominion of the plough, in irregular and detached 

 patches, selected according as the prejudice or discrimination of 

 the occupier dictated, the intermediate portions being very gene- 

 rally devoted to grazing cattle, which were put under the charge 

 of a herd to prevent their trespassing upon the divisions set apart 

 for corn. 



The meagre and imperfect statistical information of the period, 

 as regards agriculture, affords no complete account of the propor- 

 tion of land under cultivation in this district at that time ; but 

 there is every reason to believe, from the information we have been 

 able to find, that in 1790 it did not amount to one-half of the 

 whole extent. For instance, in the parish celebrated as that in 

 Avhich Mr. Dawson had early introduced and so extensively prac- 

 tised the turnip- culture, no greater progress had been made at that 

 time than to the extent of two-thirds of the present arable land, 

 or to less than a half of the whole area of the parish ; and since a 

 very imperfect mode of a six-shift rotation then generally pre- 

 vailed, as the most favourable in the district, of fallow and tur- 

 nips, wheat, pease, barley, clover, and oats ; and we are assured 

 that not even in this favoured spot did the breadth of turnips 

 amount to more than a half of the whole fallow break, a tolerably 

 correct estimate may be afforded of the distribution of the crop at 

 that time. And, in now giving a comparative view of the tw^o 

 periods, we have, in the first, been guided by a reference to the 

 average systems pursued, and other sources of information,* rather 

 than confined ourselves to the data alone afforded by the rotation 

 above quoted. 



* The distribution of the corn-crops in the whole county is thus given 

 in the survey by Dr. Douglas in reference to 1784-6 : — 



Oats . . . 50,030 AVheat . . . 5,741 

 Barley . . . 14,763 Pease . . . 8/203 



And the proportions are thus varied for 1796: — 



Oats . . . 41,008 Wheat . . . 9,842 

 Barley . . . 16,404 Pease . . . 6,562 



' General View of the Agriculture of Roxburghshire,' p. 79. By the 

 Rev. R. Douglas, D.D., Galashiels. Edin,, 1798. 



