244 
AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND. —THE STRAWBERRY PLANT. 
SVgrintltnre in Scotland—No. 10. 
Farm of Mr. Cobb.— In resuming my observations 
upon the farming in the neighborhood of Dundee, 
commenced in my last, I may say that the farmers 
near that city are not, generally, so far advanced as 
those I have met in some other sections. They look 
with incredulity upon deep plowing, and when 
draining, many of them put the top of the stones only 
about one foot from the surface ; thus, by their own 
act, rendering the use of a subsoil plow quite impos¬ 
sible. The most obstinate, however, are beginning 
to push forward, and there are some admirable exam¬ 
ples for them in their own vicinity. 
We visited the farm of Mr. Cobb, a few miles from 
Sir John Ogilvy’s, anil were much delighted by its ex¬ 
cellent condition. This farm comprises about 500 
acres, all arable, and the rotation is essentially the 
same as that of Sir John Ogilvy, mentioned in my 
last. He generally has two years of grass, however, 
unless he takes two oat crops, having every year 
about seventy acres of wheat, seventy of barley, 
seventy of turnips, seventy of potatoes, &c. When 
he takes two oat crops in succession, he has of course 
140 acres of that grain. The system of management 
and sales is identical with that described in my last, 
as practised in that neighborhood. His grass crops, 
for instance, brought last year £12 per imperial acre, 
by roup or auction. The oats and barley are sold 
just as the leaf begins to fall, and all the risk after 
that is upon the purchaser The seller thrashes the 
grain, and carts the straw when they demand it. He 
calculated that the grain crops also would bring him 
in from £10 to £12 per acre. 
Mr. Cobb has been for several years busily em¬ 
ployed in draining, and has completed a large portion 
of his farm. The drains are put in thirty-three 
inches deep, and thirty-six feet apart. He intends in 
future to have them three feet in depth, being fully 
convinced of the importance of giving the plants a 
deep, wholesome soil, into which they may extend 
their roots in search of food, and also that it is neces¬ 
sary to have the top of the stones or tiles so low as 
not to be touched by the subsoil plow. He is sub¬ 
soiling one-seventh of his farm every year, to the 
depth of fifteen inches, and intends to go several 
inches deeper the next time, considering that the full 
benefit of the drain can only be brought out by the 
subsoil plow. He says that the expense of draining 
is repaid with him in from two to three years. Lest 
any of our incredulous farmers should shake their 
heads at this, I will inform them that Mr. Cobb is a 
tenant, and paying between £1200 and £1300, or 
nearly $6,000 per annum of rent, and is not likely to 
go on with improvements that do not actually repay 
him and give a fair profit. He commenced farming 
with forty acres, for which he paid £7. 10s , or near¬ 
ly $40, per acre of rent, and has worked his own 
way upwards. We saw a piece of wild moor, that 
he brought in last year by trenching three feet deep, 
taking out the stones, and putting in drains. This 
operation costs £12 per acre. The first crop, one of 
oats, taken off that ground, actually brought at auc¬ 
tion, £12 per acre, thus repaying the prime cost at 
once. 
Farming in Forfarshire. —From Dundee we went 
northward thirty miles, to Brechin Castle, the seat of 
Lord Panmure, about half a mile from the town of 
Brechin. Lord Panmure is the owner of immense 
estates in that section of the country ; and with a mu¬ 
nificence for which he has long been remarkable, on 
the present occasion procured the services of Profes¬ 
sor Johnston to deliver three lectures to the Eastern 
Forfarshire Agricultural Association. The three 
were delivered respectively, at Brechin, Montrose, 
and Arbroath. I attended only the first, at Brechin. 
The audience was large and attentive. In the even¬ 
ing a dinner was given by Lord Panmure, at which 
about eighty persons, chiefly his tenantry, were pre¬ 
sent. They were a remarkably intelligent body of 
men, and evidently much delighted by the informa¬ 
tion they had received from Professor Johnston. The 
farming in Forfarshire is fast becoming very good ; 
tile works are being erected on almost every large 
estate, and the introduction of the pipe tile promises 
to cheapen the draining very materially. Many are 
putting in stones, but they do not generally break 
them fine enough, and often bring them up too near 
the surface. 1 much regretted that other engagements 
would not permit me to accept of invitations which I 
received to visit several of the best farms in the dis¬ 
trict. 
There is a large manufactory near Brechin, for the 
manufacture of arrow-root and tapioca , from pota¬ 
toes. We had not time to see the process. It re¬ 
minded me of our manufactories of Havana cigars in 
Connecticut, and many like instances of Yankee 
genius. 
The effect of Professor Johnson's visit in Forfar¬ 
shire was excellent; the farmers got a thorough 
awakening, and will not slumber again. Lord Pan¬ 
mure and the other leading gentlemen are much en¬ 
gaged, and plans are already on foot for another and 
a longer visit. John P. Norton. 
Edinburgh, June 1 , 1845. 
THE STRAWBERRY PLANT. 
I yesterday, for the first time, met with Mr. 
Downing’s work on fruit. I doubt not it will be a 
work of great value. I discover from it, that I have 
erroneous opinions respecting the character of the 
strawberry plant. I was not, like Mr. Downing, 
“ born in a large garden, on the banks of one of the 
noblest rivers in America,” and therefore “ claim a 
natural right to talk about fruit.” But I have resided, 
for 41 years, on the banks of La Belle Riviere 
(the Ohio), at the then village of Cincinnati, now the 
Queen of the West, and destined in less than half a 
century, to be the second city in the Union. Thirty 
years of that time has been devoted in part to Horti¬ 
culture, and I have paid particular attention to the 
character of the strawberry plant. If I am wrong, I 
am without excuse, and should pay for my error. 
It seems, according to Mr. Downing, that all 
strawberries in their natural state, have blossoms 
perfect in both the male and female organs. Of 
course, all new seedlings have perfect blossoms. But 
it seems, in rich soils, a few of the runners will be¬ 
come defective in the male or female organs, and be 
unproductive. That perfect natural plants, of all 
the varieties, are abundant, and you have only to 
select your plants from these to have abundant crops, 
and not cumber your ground with staminate plants 
My doctrine is, that in 10,000 seedlings, there would 
be about an equal quantity of male and female 
(staminate and pistillate) plants, and that it would be 
