Report on some features of Scottish Agriculture. 
1G7 
and that such a quantity will last a considerable time, although 
of course the larger the quantity given the better it will be for 
the soil. The land, which had previously grown little or no 
herbage, was first sown with turnips, after having received a 
heavy dressing of Peruvian guano, dissolved bones, and bone- 
dust. The roots were eaten off b}' sheep, getting 1 lb. of linseed 
cake each per diem, and they were followed the next year by 
turnips again, treated precisely as before both in cultivation and 
consumption. These root-crops were followed by barley sown out 
with rye-grass and clovers, the seeds, Avhich took well, being 
pastured for two years. Oats and rye followed the ley, and 
were succeeded by turnips again. From 10 to 15 acres of 
potatoes are grown annually at Dirleton, the seed being always 
brought from the west of Scotland and from off moss-land. The 
produce is used for seed in the following year at Fenton Barns, 
and the change is found highly beneficial. These potatoes are 
planted at Dirleton sometimes after turnips and sometimes after 
oats, as may be found most suitable. 
The cultivation of the soil at Dirleton is all performed with 
horses. The ground is generally prepared for the various crops 
in the same way as at Fenton Barns, except for barley after 
turnips, which is merely grubbed to the depth of 2 or at most 
3 inches, to allow the drill machine easily to cover the seed. 
This grubbing is done, if possible, in wet weather, which leaves 
the soil in small balls, and only one turn of the harrow is given 
after the seed has been sown. None of the sandy soil is ever 
rolled, even when open more than is desirable, as this operation 
invariably increases its tendency to blow. 
Courses of Cropping. — Although many points of interest will 
be brought out by a comparison of the management of Fenton 
Barns with that pursued by Mr. Murray on the far richer soil of 
East Barns, it is fortunate for the reader of this and previous 
reports that ^Nlr. Hope changes his mode of cropping from time 
to time. We may, in fact, consider that he has, during a series 
of years, stiiven to give a more perfect realization than usual to 
the idea embodied in the practice of adopting a given rotation. 
If it is desirable to change annually the nature of the crop which 
is grown on the land, and to grow a given number of crops in a 
certain order, to be repeated again and again, — Mr. Hope holds 
tnat it is equally desirable to change this order of cropping from 
time to time, to prevent a result which, though less disastrous 
than that produced by growing the same crop year after year on 
the same land, has still an undesirable influence on the general 
yield. 
The course of cropping, however much it may vary from time 
to time, in order to prolong the interval betwixt grass and grass, 
