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counties in Scotland, in which the commoners are more distinguished by their education, their manners, their enlarged views, the love of their country, and the extent of their property. The farm-houses are not now mean hovels, without light and air, but are substantially built, having two floors, and very few want glass windows; yet the houses of the ordi nary tenantry are still mean, the occupier and his cattle lodging under the same roof.

Besides the town of Perth, this county contains upwards of 70 towns and villages, some of which are very thriving; a most desirable thing for humanity, their inhabitants being, as Dr. R. observes, more hardy than the deformed spawn and jail sweepings of great towns.'-In the chapter on the mode of occupation, Dr. R., adverting to the state of society in former times as unpropitious to agricultural improvements, judiciously remarks that, though the parent of industry is the desire of comfort, yet industry can never flourish, nor bear fruit, unless the hedge of the law be planted around it.' He also notices the ancient kind of occupancy called run-rig*, which is giving way to better regulations, though much remains to be done for the improvement of the county.-The general average of the size of farms is from 100 to 300 acres. Rent is for the most part doubled within these thirty years; its average, on the best soils, from 20 to 30 shillings an acre; i. e. Scots acre, or 6084 square yards; or about one-fifth more than an English acre, which is 4849 square yards, Moors and sheep-walks are rented not by the acre, but by the soum (a term denoting the pasture of a full grown cow) at an average of 7s, or 8s. a soum. The valued rent of the county is 332,4121. 3s, 4d. Scots.Though there are no tithes in Scotland, many of the ministers have a certain proportion of their stipends paid in grain, from the produce of their parishes; and the remainder in money.

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On the subject of Poor-rates, we shall transcribe a short passage, which merits the consideration of the inhabitants of South Britain. There is no such thing as poor-rates in this country, in the same sense, in which it is understood on the south side of the Tweed, The poor are generally supported by a voluntary charity collected from the parishioners every

Not like the common fields in England or Scotland (as some suppose) where no boundaries are marked between the different possessors, but in alternate ridges, having a bank of waste land for the boundary between every two ridges; and to add to the evil, one farmer possessed this year, what his neighbour did possess the former, Not only farms, but in some instances estates were divided in this manner, especially when a property fell into the hands of co-heirs."

Sabbath,

Sabbath, together with the interest of sums bequeathed by pious persons for their use, some petty fines for breaches of decorum, certain dues for the proclamation of banns, the use of the mort-cloth (the pall) and other casualties. This fund is managed by the minister and elders, under the controul of the heritors of each parish.' To this a note is added: wherever poor-rates have been introduced, the amount of them has rapidly increased and debauchery flourished.'

As a spirit of improvement has diffused itself throughout Great Britain, we were not surprized to find that the aukward implements of agriculture are daily disappearing; and that implements constructed on judicious models are coming into use: but we were astonished to learn that threshing of corn by machinery has been practised in Perthshire for near half a century. Very few oxen are used for draught.-Inclosing has made a rapid progress within fifty years; yet three-fifths of the arable land remain open. Mention is made of a larch hedge.-The advantage of belting, in this cold region, is particularly urged and illustrated.-Rotations of crops in some districts are spe- : cified but it is confessed that, in many parts, the farmers have no regular rotation, but plow the land as long as it will carry any crop, and when it will not even carry oats they let it out to rest. This is lamentable husbandry.

The cultivation of wheat is become general; and 10 bolls (or sacks) form a good average return. After so encouraging a statement, exceeding the average produce in Middlesex, we do not wonder that the culture of wheat should become general in Perthshire; yet we are told that oats are the grain most commonly sown; because they produce a tolerable crop, where often no other corn would succeed. Dr. Johnson's account of this grain is not now true, (see his Dictionary, art, Oats,) since, according to Dr. R., wheaten bread has very much supplanted the oat-cakes.'-Flax is cultivated to a considerable extent, since the amount of the stamped linen for this county is 248,619l. 6s. 8d.-Potatoes are also largely culti vated; and it was not uncommon, till forbidden by law, to extract a spirit from them.-We are informed, in the section on Turnips, that in some cases the fly is avoided by sowing the seeds of two different years; and the author also adds that he never saw turnips destroyed by vermin (he means, we suppose, the insect called the fly,) that were sown with lime.'-Rye. grass and red clover are the artificial grasses in most esteem; sain-foin, lucern, and burnet, are not cultivated.

The pastures of the county of Perth on good land are thus described: They are as rich as in any part of Britain: the grass is as luxuriant, the pile as close, and the natural white.

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clover and daisy as thick as they can stand.' In the chapter on Gardens and Orchards, we read of an orchard let for about rool. a year, and of walnuts on a wall.-Though this reporter complains of the destruction of the Woods in former times, the county of Perth is not altogether denuded; there is one natural fir wood which covers 2566 acres of land; and it has more oak woods, and of greater value, than all the rest of Scotland. Dr. Robertson argues strenuously for the plantation of wastes and, moors, by maintaining that the climate was milder in former times from its having been more wooded than at present; and that the inhabitants of the North have only to restore the same cause to produce the same effect.-The chapter on Live Stock informs us that the Perthshire cows are in general of a bad breed; that the sheep are numerous, amounting to 222,000; that there are some red-deer in the forests; that dove-cots are rare, (which Dr. R. considers as a favourable circumstance, since a pigeon will consume, in two or three days, grain equal to its value,) and that bees thrive in the sheltered parts of the hilly country.

The chapter on Rural Economy states the price of labour to have been doubled within the last twenty-five years; that common labourers earn between one shilling and one shilling and three pence a day; and that the average price of butcher's meat is from three pence to five pence the lb. Dutch weight (17 oz.).-Under the head of Political Economy, are classed Roads, Canals, and Embankments, Fairs, Weekly Markets, Commerce, Manufactures, Poor *, and Population; which last is stated to be in an increasing state, and to amount at present, for the whole county, to 143,123. The Obstacles to Improvement are stated to be Intermixture of Land, Runrig, unascertained boundaries of Estates, Servitudes, Thirlage +, Shortness of Leases, Distance from Manure, and Commons; not to mention loose and vague contracts between landlord and tenants, and clumsy and cheap implements of husbandry. Since, however, in his section on The Genius of the People of the County of Perth, the Doctor compliments them as having a spirit of Improvement, it may presumed that these obstacles will in a

The author reprobates the encouragement given by weak Christians to vagrants; and the bad policy of magistrates in contenting themselves with turning them out of their respective parishes, to become nuisances to others. He thinks that every parish should have a bridewell to confine to hard labour all idle and dissolute vagrants. All who can work, and will not, should be made to work,

This is an exorbitant mulcture for the benefit of a mill to grind their corn; see p. 396.

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great measure be removed; and that his hints for the amelioration of the County will be honoured with that attention which they seem to merit.

Respecting the discriminating features of the County of Perth, the following remarks occur in the preliminary observa

tions :

The land, to which this survey refers, seems to divide that part of Scotland on the south, which is generally adapted to the raising of grain, from that on the north, which, with few exceptions, is more fitted for pasture.

It is also singular, that the county under review divides those parts of the kingdom on the north, where firs abounded in former times, which are still found in the mosses, from those in the south, which carried oaks and a variety of other wood, but no firs, so far as I have ever heard. Nature herself, which never errs, appears to have clad our bleak mountains with a mantle, which is for ever green; while she had planted trees, which shed their leaves, where ornament and shelter were less necessary, lest perhaps the verdure of the ground would be too much intercepted from the eye of man.

In this county is the boundary between those parts of Britain, where coal has been discovered, and these, where coal has not hitherto been found; that useful fossil, which is so necessary for the comfort of the southern districts, being less requisite in the north, where extensive forests of the pine, the best of all fuel, formerly grew, and still grow spontaneously.

Here is also the division betwixt the granite and the free stone; there being no free stone north of us, and the granite less frequent than the free stone on the south. Our hewing-stone quarries gra dually harden, as you approach the Grampians.

Slates, that beautiful covering for houses, are found in few parts of Britain, south of this county.

Another distinguishing feature of this county is, that it contains more oak-woods, than are to be found in all the other counties of North Britain.'

The Report concludes, as it began, with the praises of Agriculture; and with assuring the writer's countrymen, that great advantages will result from their adopting his line of cultivation.

An Appendix, including a variety of useful papers, is subjoined but, unlike the other County Reports, this volume is illustrated by no plates, (though references are made to some,) nor with even a map of the county. It wants also a table of contents, and a glossary of provincialisms. There is indeed, at the beginning, a good table of weights and measures, with an index at the end: but this latter is very defective. Scotticisms abound, such as a quarry is broke upon; to raise an action, for to enter an action; sowing their corns,' for corn; ' land sown out; followed out; unsimilar; beyond my power to condescend

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condescend upon,' &c. All these circumstances, however, are "dust on the scale," compared with the intrinsic merit of the work, which must remain a convincing testimony of Dr. R.'s industry and good sense; and if he has manifested some partiality in his statements, they may be attributed to the commendable view of stimulating his countrymen to the mcst laudable exertions.

ART. V. The New Farmer's Calendar; or Monthly Remembrancer,
for all kinds of Country Business: comprehending all the material
Improvements in the New Husbandry, with the Management of
Live Stock. Inscribed to the Farmers of Great Britain.
Farmer and Breeder. 8vo. pp. 616. 9s. Boards. Symonds.
By a
1800.

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N the business of farming, no extensive and accurate knowlege can be acquired without experience: but, since experience, in this as in other cases, keeps a dear school, the information to be derived from books is not to be despised; for it may at Jeast aid us in making experiments, and assist us in turning them to a better account than otherwise we should be able to do. What, indeed, is a well-written practical agricultural work, but a record or memorial of the processes of others; and of the maxims, principles, and general rules which the experimenters have deduced from them? Farming, as a science, has its basis in certain doctrines or principles; and though their application may be extremely various, it is not unadvisable to found our practice on a knowlege of them. The more they are considered by practical men, the more perfect and beneficial will be the operations of husbandry; and for this reason, we think that the country may congratulate itself on the publication of so many agricultural books as have lately appeared; which, though of different merit, will all contribute to awaken general discussion, and to diffuse a truly useful species of knowlege.

The volume before us is a summary of agricultural information, which will be acceptable to young farmers; especially the Calendar part, which details the business required to be done on a farm, in each month, from January to December. The author might perhaps be no loser by offering to the public the 140 pages containing this Monthly Calendar, as a distinct work. It affords, in a short compass, a number of useful hints; which may not only be of great service to the inexperienced, but may tend to superinduce an habit of attention and regularity on those who have for years been accustomed to the forming business. An idea of the Calendar may be formed. from

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