Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/260

524 On his return to Britain, the first object of Sir John was the improvement of our national agriculture. It was not, however, by propounding theories and publishing books that this work in the first instance was to be accomplished. Instead of this, the barren waste must be reclaimed, the hard soil overturned with the ploughshare, and an expenditure of time, labour, and capital patiently endured, until the obstinacy of nature as well as the indolence of man was compelled into full activity, and the sterile surface covered with a profitable harvest. No one knew this better than Sir John Sinclair, and, accordingly, he had turned himself in good earnest, even at the early age of eighteen, to the self-denying labour of a practical teacher, by showing what could be done upon his own property. And, verily, this was no easy or hopeful task ! His estate, consisting of 100,000 acres, comprised about a sixth of the county of Caithness. On these, besides a few large farms, there were about 800 or 900 small ones, cultivated according to the most unproductive modes of the Scottish husbandry of the day, and yielding a miserable rent, of which but a small part was money, while the rest was in grain, lamb, poultry, and other such produce. An English holder of Scottish acres thus surrounded on his first rent-day, would have fled across the Tweed, and made no halt until he had reached the shelter of Middlesex. This fashion of rent payment, which had prevailed for ages among a people the most tenacious of ancient usages, must be torn up root and branch before a step in advance could be won. Here, then, Sir John commenced with the improvement of agriculture in Caithness and not only in Caithness, but Scotland at large, and finally in England also. Large farms were established, to which skill and capital were attracted by the prospect of a profitable return; and to set the example to their occupants, he took one of them, originally consisting of eight small farms, into his own hands. This, when brought into cultivation, he let at a moderate rent, after having allotted it into cottage farms, where the tenants were induced to build comfortable houses, and carry out the improvements that had been already commenced. In this way the example was begun that soon gathered a population together, while villages and hamlets gradually rose up in those cultivated localities, where subsistence and comfort were thus provided as the reward of industry. Every tenant was bound down to a regular rotation of crops, to a certain annual amount of marling and liming, and to a certain amount as well as mode of occupation in the improvement of his farm. Every facility was also afforded to industry, by furnishing the small farmers with marl and lime at the cheapest rate, and the best seeds, especially of turnip, clover, and rye- grass, while instructions upon farming were readily communicated, and a spirit of active competition excited by the distribution of small premiums. Thus the old established drawbacks in our agriculture were one by one removed. Each farmer was required to start with a capital, however small, instead of commencing on credit; to confine his cultivation to the extent he could manage, and do it well; to economize his labour so as to produce results with the least expenditure; and to aim continually at raising the best grain, and keeping the best stock. The old system of thirlage, also, or restriction to particular mills, as well as the other feudal services was abolished, and the buying and casting of peats for fuel, which diverted the attention of farmers from their work, was superseded by the general introduction of coal. Such are but a few of those important principles which Sir John introduced into his system of land-cultivation; and such an improvement of his Caithness property ensued, as was