737 
PERTHSHIRE. 
Thefe divifions are termed the Highland Diftrift, the 
Lowland Diftrift, and the Diftrift of the Carfe of 
Gowrie. 
i. The Highland Diftrift, which comprehends by far 
the larger portion of the county, is included within, or 
rather formed by, the Grampian mountains. In relation 
to the whole extent of the Scottifh Highlands, it confti- 
tutes what are ufually denominated the Central or South¬ 
ern Highlands, in contradiftinftion to thofe of Argyle- 
fhire, or the Wejiern Highlands, and thofe of Invernefs- 
(hire, or the Northern Highlands. It may alfo be regard¬ 
ed as the central diftrift of the whole kingdom of Scot¬ 
land ; and is fubdivided into final! portions, marked by 
glens or valleys, called Rannoch, Glenlyon, Glenlochie, 
Glendochart, Glenqueich, Glenfhee, the environs of Loch 
Tay, and Strath-Tay. Throughout this vaft trail of 
country, contrary to what might be fuppofed from its 
northern latitude, the elevation of its valleys, and the 
altitude and naked afpeft of its towering mountains, the 
climate is not lefs mild than in the moor-lands of York¬ 
shire. Indeed, the mountains of Perthfhire may even 
claim an equality in temperature with thofe of Cornwall 
and Devonfhire, and certainly furpafs them in drynefs of 
climate, excepting on the weltern margin of the diftrift, 
where the quantity of rain which falls is immenfe. The 
foil in the valleys here confifts in general of a brown loam, 
of uncommon fertility, lying on a found, dry, gravelly, or 
fandy, bottom. A fimilar foil prevails on the tides of the 
hills to a confiderable height, and is not unfrequently 
found under the black moory earth of the heaths. What 
is remarkable, the Hopes of the mountains facing the 
north are much more productive than thofe which poflefs 
a fouthern expofure. This phenomenon is accounted 
for, by the fuppofition that the foil fuffers more exhau- 
ftioo on the fouth than on the north, becaufe of the 
greater alternation of rain and fnow, and of heat and cold, 
to which the furface of the former is liable, from the ac¬ 
tion of the fun-beams, and the greater frequency of 
fouthern rains. In this diftrift few of the valleys con¬ 
tain large areas of free cuiturable land, like thofe found 
in the fouth 5 and even the fcanty areas that do exift 
have required in general the aid of human induftry to 
dear them of the rocks which have been torn from the 
impending mountains. Yet, as the glens are numerous, 
it happens here, as in moll parts of the Highlands where 
modern fheep or cattle farming is not prevalent, that each 
farm pofieftes its pittance of hill and dale, and its lhare 
of every defcription of land, as arable, meadow, green 
pafture, and moor. The arable lands have a two-fold 
diftinftion, the infield and outfield lands; the fir ft of which, 
lying near the farm-yard, is kept constantly in tillage, 
and receives all the manure tile pofTefior can colled; 
while the latter, confiding of fuch plots at the lower parts 
of the valleys, are level enough to be ploughed, are kept 
in corn and natural ley, or weedy waftes alternately, 
without the frnallelt afliftance of manure. The wet plots 
in the vales are termed “ meadow,” and kept uniformly 
under the fcythe, for a fcanty fupply of hay. The faces 
of the “ braes,” the roots of the hills, the wood or rough 
ftony waftes of the bottoms, and a fmall plot near the 
houle, are generally appropriated to cattle in fummer, 
and fheep in winter; the fheep and horfes being kept in 
fummer “above the head-dyke,” upon the hill or moor 
lands. 
Such is the general defcription of the Highland farms 
of Perthfhire 5 whence it may reafonably be concluded, 
that the hufbandry of this diftrift is not in a very advan¬ 
ced ftate. This, however, does not arife from a want of 
knowledge, or even of induftry, among the farmers, but 
from the peculiar conftitution of fociety in the more north¬ 
ern portions of our ifland. Before it can be remedied, 
the farms, now in general fmall, would require to be in- 
creafed greatly in extent, and the farmer aftifted with ca¬ 
pital, fhould he be deficient in means of his own. The 
pride of clanfhip among the proprietors ought to be laid 
afide, and the eventual interefts of the country ftudied, 
inftead of the mifapplied philanthropy which confti- 
tutes the ruling motive for continuing the fmall-farm 
fyftem. That ufelefs and idle race of occupiers or fub- 
tenants, called acre-men or crofters, mull likewife be ex¬ 
tirpated, to facilitate the agricultural improvement of 
this diftrift. The only crops railed here are oats, bear or 
bigg, flax, and potatoes, and on fome fpots peafe. Wheat 
is never fown. The bufinefs of the flax-harveft, in parti¬ 
cular, is well conducted. Indeed, in the management of «. 
that article, the Highlanders may be faid to excel. 
2. The Lowland Diftrift includes all that portion of 
Perthfhire which lies to the fouth of the Grampians, 
with the exception of the Carfe of Gowrie, to be after¬ 
wards noticed ; viz. part of Strathmore, and thofe diftrifts . 
of the county the dreams of which flow into the Forth, 
or the Earn. Along the Forth, for an extent of eighteen 
miles from Garthmore to the bridge of Allan, the foil of 
the level lands is a deep rich clay, of various degrees of 
fertility. This foil, however, is fti 11 covered, for about 
four miles, by a traft of mofs from fix to fifteen feet deep, 
called the Mofs of Kincardine, becaufe chiefly fituated in 
the parilh of that name. The mofs is lnppofed to have 
once covered the whole valley, and was well worthy the 
inveftigation of the naturalilt. By the exertions of‘the 
late lord Kaimes, however, and by the judicious libera¬ 
lity of its proprietors, it now rapidly diminiflies in lize, 
and will doubtlefs be entirely cleared in a few' years. 
(See vol. xi. p. 723,4.) In the low grounds of Strathearn, 
wheat is the great objeft of hufbandry, generally after 
fummer-fallow, but frequently alfo after clover-ley. In 
the upper parts of the diftrift, barley and oats are the 
principal crops. The culture of flax is univerfal over 
the whole diftrift, but is not carried to a great extent in 
any one place. Potatoes are raifed in vaft quantities on 
the light foils; as are likewife turnips, efpecially within 
the laft ten years. Farms here vary in fize, from 30 to 
400 acres. The greater part of this diftrift, however, is 
yet uninclofed. The manures chiefly in life here are 
lime and marie, of which laft article there is great abun¬ 
dance found in the fmall lakes, and in the landlocked 
bogs and mofles. 
3. The third agricultural diftrift of Perthfhire, or the 
Carfe of Gowrie, is fituated along the northern Ihore of 
the frith of Tay. It is a long narrow plain, and extends 
fixteen miles in length: it contains about 18,000 acres of 
extremely rich and fertile foil. This di ft rift, indeed, 
may be juftly llyled the boall of Great Britain for natu¬ 
ral produftivenefs, and yields to no portion of the globe 
in the intelligence and ikili of its farmers. Like the 
Delta-land of Egypt, and thofe fertile trails adjacent to 
the mouths of the Ganges, the Indus, and the Mifliiippi, 
the Carfe of Gowrie has been formed in a long courfe of 
ages, and has grown rich by the fpoils of the Highlands, 
The heavy rains which fall near the fources of the Earn, 
the Tay, the Tummel, the Garry, the Ida, and their tri¬ 
butary ftreams, have wafhed down great portions of foil, 
and have laid bare the rocks of the higheft mountains to 
give exuberance to the banks of the Tay. The Carfe, in 
fail, is evidently nothing more than what is called, in 
other quarters, fea-mud, or fleech, confolidated by time 
and gradual depofuion. The fub-ftrata here are various, 
and might form a fubjeil of curious and interefting in¬ 
veftigation. The foils alfo differ. On the banks or braes 
of the Carfe, which dope gently with a fouthern afpeft, 
the foil is a hazle-coloured loam, except in the higher 
part of the afcent, where it is a fliarp gravelly kind. In 
the Low Carfe, clay is the prevailing foil. Here the 
farms are clafled into fix divifions, as nearly equal as the 
nature of the ground will admit, and the following rota¬ 
tion is that moll generally approved of: 1 ft year, fummer- 
fallow, the land dunged ; 2d, wheat; 3d, peafe, or peafe 
and beans; 4th, barley, with clover and rye-grafs; 5th, 
clover; 6th, oats. Sometimes, however, fallow is exclu¬ 
ded, and fomfe green crop fubftituted. This happens al- 
molt 
