Cumate.

Soil and and spongy; and other parts of it, at no great distance, are often light, and freely admit the passage of water. The clayey, and also the mossy soils, very frequently rest upon horizontal layers of freestone. This has a tendency to create a cold and mossy surface, because the moisture cannot penetrate to the solid stone. On the contrary, a considerable part of the territory rests upon rot-. ten whinstone, that is, whinstone which moulders by the action of the weather. Of such stones the hills here are chiefly composed. The soil which it forms is light, dry, and warm, and in a moderate elevation produces fine short grass without heath.

Climate. In the higher grounds the climate is cold and wet. This is owing to the elevation of the land, and chiefly to the hills, which attract the clouds and vapours in their course. Frost sets in somewhat more early, and continues longer, than in the adjacent districts to the south. The air is generally clear, which is conducive to the health of the inha bitants. The south-west wind is sometimes very boisterous, but is supposed to be advantageous; carrying off the superabundant moisture collected on the lower grounds by the copious and numerous springs from the declivities of the hills. The high winds, however, are sometimes hurtful to the crop in harvest, by shaking it if too ripe. To guard against this occasional but fatal danger, requires all the skill and industry of the husbandman. The parish of Portmoak is in some degree sheltered from the cold easterly winds, which in the spring season are severely felt upon the south and east coasts of Fife; but it is exposed to the north-west winds, which blowing across the Ochil hills covered with snow, and along the surface of the loch, becomes intensely cold. On the whole, however, seedtime and harvest are here as early as in the neighbouring districts, and the climate is abundantly salubrions. The

rops cultivated in this county are
peas. Wheat is seldom sown.
sisting of clover and rye-grass, are also cultivated. Con-
siderable attention has lately been paid to turnips; but
potatoes are far more generally reared as a fallow crop.
On every farm a considerable quantity of flax, or, as it is
universally called in Scotland, lint, is sown. Many of
the cattle are of the Highland breed, and may therefore
literally be called black cattle, from their colour. The
sheep are partly of the black-faced or Tweeddale kind,
and partly white-faced; but the latter are of a small
size.

chiefly oats, barley, and Agricul
Artificial grasses, con-

ture.

The inclosing and subdividing of land is a practice not inclosures. of long standing in this country. The advantages to be derived from this agricultural improvement are, however, already so well known in this place, that a considerable quantity is inclosed every year. But after all that has yet been done, more than three-fourths of the country remain to be inclosed. It is to be hoped that it will not long continue in such a state, as the whole, excepting a common or two, is already subdivided. Inclosures are of all sizes, from four to above fifty acres, answerable to the extent of the farm, the nature and situation of the land, and the uses to which it is put. The dry stone dikes are preferred by some, but others give a preference to the ditch and hedge. Lands inclosed can usually be let from year to year for pasture, at a higher rent than for tillage upon a lease of nineteen years. The demands for inclosed lands are upon the increase, and consequently the num ber of farmers diminishes.

Concerning the plantations of this county it is unneces- Plantations sary to say much, because, with the exception of the estate of Blair, on the eastern extremity of the Cleish hills, the county, in all probability, does not contain one hun

ture.

of Blair.

Agricul- dred acres covered with trees, although there can be no doubt that belts of planting would both adorn and enrich the exposed surface of this district, particularly in consequence of the amelioration of climate, and consequent imPlantations provement of pasture-lands, which can only be effectually produced in this manner. With regard to the plantations on the estate of Blair, the proprietor, William Adam, Esq. sergeant at law, has given an account of them, in a letter addressed to the president of the Board of Agriculture, from which it appears that they are situated in many places five hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. The plantations were begun, by the predecessor of the present proprietor, previous to 1738. He inclosed at that period about 1000 acres by narrow stripes of planting, extending to about thirty or forty acres. The plantations were extended, by his immediate successor, to five hundred and forty acres, previous to the year 1784; to which sixty acres of plantations were added by the present proprietor, for the sake of completing the original plan of inclosing. The latter plantations were made in broader stripes than formerly, and in larger masses. The woods consist of pines of all sorts, oaks, ashes, beeches, and elms. The grounds being varied with numerous little hills and rocky eminences, as well as various glens and valleys, there has resulted the most perfect degree of shelter that trees can give. The varied lines of wood breaking the current of the wind from every quarter, and the cattle finding shelter in every field from every wind that blows, are advantages that have, in the opinion of the proprietor, compensated for the additional length of fencing which that mode of planting necessarily occasioned. The climate has in this way been improved; and hence, though the soil has received no improvement from liming, draining, or other culture, yet in the spring the grass rises much earlier, and in

ture.

autumn continues fresh much later, in these inclosures, than Agricul
on the exposed grounds in the neighbourhood. In plant-
ing, it was found advantageous to place the tree obliquely
with its top to the south-west, the quarter from which
the wind most frequently blows. They assumed of them-
selves an upright direction, and in the mean while pros-
pered better. The larch succeeded best, and also the
spruce and silver firs; likewise the New England pine,
for twenty-six or thirty years, after which it failed.
The Scotch firs were of little value, unless in low situa-
tions. The beech, elm, ash, and sycamore, grow rapidly.
The spruce appears to be the best for nursing forest trees.
It is thickly leaved, and has unpliable branches, so that it
gives much protection without lashing the neighbouring
trees during severe blasts. The larch, on the contrary, is
naked of leaves; during the worst part of the season its
pliable boughs lash unmercifully the neighbouring trees.
In other respects, however, Mr Adam thinks, "that the
greatest discovery for Scotland, in the way of planting, is
the larch. It is now known to suit all exposures and
soils, and to be a very useful tree. The common peo-
ple," he adds, " have got over all their prejudices against
it, and prefer it to their old acquaintance the Scotch fir.
Indeed, of all the pines it is the most durable, and is e-
qually suited to all uses; for it bears wet and dry equally
well; and, what is more, it bears being sometimes wet
and sometimes dry better than any other tree. I have ob-
served, too, that it grows well and readily by the shed-
ding of its seed. One of my plantations, planted in 1763,
contains a considerable proportion of larches. There
were left in it large vacant spaces to answer the purpose
of riding, and of bringing out the wood when there
should be thinnings. In these vacancies there are many

young larches growing most vigorously; and as I am

า

ture.

Agricul sure none were planted in it, they must be self-sown from the seed of the adjacent trees. It is worthy of remark, too, that horses have been permitted to graze in that plantation; and the young larches bear no mark whatever of having been injured by them. Black cattle have been excluded."

Pigeonhouses.

This county, though extremely small, is well stocked with pigeon-houses; a nuisance of which agriculturalists have just cause to complain. They make dreadful havoc among the grain, particularly in seed and harvesttime; and in this and the neighbouring large county of Fife, they are supposed to consume 4000 bolls annually. Did the proprietors themselves farm their lands in the neighbourhood of these dovecots, the public would still have reason to complain of the wasteful mode in which the most valuable of all commodities are expended; but when it is considered that they are forcibly billeted on tenants, the grievance is more obviously intolerable. The profit derived from these animals is extremely trifling. The value of a pigeon-cot is seldom more than L. 5 or L. 6 annually; and frequently from two or three pigeon-cots two hundred pairs in a year are scarcely obtained. It is some consolation to the farmers, however, that pigeons are not now so plentiful as formerly. Gentlemen seem not to set so high a value upon this species of stock as they once. did. Many of the pigeon-houses have been suffered to go to ruin. Proper attention is not always paid to keep them in repair; and this is a temptation to the pigeons to desert them. Even those which are kept in good order are not in general so well stocked as they once were. This circumstance has been imputed to various causes. In the first place, the general correctness of culture now introduced, and the practice of sowing artificial grasses, which are completely carried off at the approach of win◄