1 

 I 



AgricuUure of Scotland. 109 



for feeding ; and the number fully fatted and annually sold, almost 

 entirely for the English markets, cannot be estimated at fewer than 

 1000, at an average weight of 55 stones each. The feeding of 

 cattle was not entirely unknown in this district in the early epoch 

 of this survey,* but it may be fairly assumed the quantity did not 

 at that time reach to a fifth part of that just mentioned. 



Estimating from the very limited information to be gathered 

 from the statistical accounts of the parishes comprehended in this 

 district,! it would appear, in numbers, that the quantity of sheep 

 maintained at the two periods, respectively, is as about three to 

 four ; while the weight in the present time cannot be taken at much 

 less than double that of the former period. Exclusive of a consi- 

 derable number of sheep that are brought into the district to be 

 fed on turnips during the winter months, the number of Leicesters 

 we think we mav assume, from personal knowledge and such in- 

 formation as we have access to, to be maintained now throughout 

 the year, cannot be less than 25,600. Of these somewhat more 

 than the half, or 14,500, are disposed of annually; and the quan- 

 tity of wool produced has been estimated at upwards of 5100 

 stone. 



Under the former system we may conclude that not quite 

 20,000 smaller sheep were maintained ; and, allowing for a pro- 

 portion being of a better description, it may fairly be estimated 

 there would not be greatly above a third sold in each year, or say 

 7000, of such comparative weight, as to cause the produce in 

 mutton certainly not to be fairly considered more than a fourth 

 part of the result of the yield of the present time. In wool the 

 deficiency would thus be equal to a half. 



Rental. — The information contained in the statistical accounts 

 of the two periods does not afford materials to enable a compara- 

 tive \iew of the rents of the whole district to be given ; for while, 

 in the records of some of the parishes, we have the rental of one 

 period shown, it is withheld in the account of the next. In one 

 parish only we have the difference in the two periods distinctly- 

 stated ; and this exhibits a contrast which we have no doubt may- 

 be taken as a fair criterion of the whole. In 1791, the real rent 

 of the parish of Eckford is stated as having been 3699^., while 

 at the present time it is 8676Z.| In corroboration of the yieyv that 

 these figures afford data for a tolerably fair estimate of the increase 

 of the rental of the district, it may be mentioned that one of the 

 finest farms within its compass, on the opposite extremity to the 



' Wight's Survey, vol. ii. p. 259. 

 'f* Statistical Accoant of Scotland, vols.iii. and xix. — Linton and Roxburgh. 

 % New Statistical Account of Scotland, No. XIY., p. 230. — Roxburghshire. 



