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Rh Duddingston, the forest had largely disappeared, its place being taken by heath-covered moorland, and near the shore by sand-blown furze-covered downs.

But once more the scene has undergone a change, for the heath-covered moorland is now the finest of arable land, and the sand-blown downs have been transformed into the streets of a flourishing town.

It may be safely affirmed that there is no parish in the country where the land is better cultivated and yields better returns than Duddingston. The farmers are, as a rule, men of standing and means, capital being essential to the successful prosecution of their calling. Their energy and enterprise have frequently been acknowledged and encouraged by the landlords. The duration of the leases extends from fifteen to nineteen years and the farms vary in size from 130 to 250 acres. No better farm buildings can anywhere be seen ;offices and steadings being commodious, and the dwelling houses models of comfort and elegance. The fields, as a rule, are large, well laid out, and fenced with thorn hedges; few stone walls being seen in the rural part of the parish.

From the Statistical Account of 1845, we learn that the total number of acres then included in the parish was 1450. At that time 800 acres were under cultivation, while the other 650 were either under wood or water, meadow land and pasture, or feued. Stock rearing and grazing at one time were much in vogue, but the cultivation of cereals is now more in favour. High rents are the rule, from £4 to £5 per acre being the average in the parish ; while grass parks and meadow land, where there is artificial irrigation, bring a much higher rent. As an index to the increase in the value of the land, we may mention that before 1746, when leases were unknown and had never been given to the tenants, the medium rent per acre was 10s. In some cases it was as low as 5s for the arable land of an inferior quality, with an interest in the commons for which no rent was demanded. Even in 1794 rents averaged only £2 2s per acre.

The lands of Prestonfield were the first in the parish, if not in the county, to be improved by artificial cultivation. Sir James Dick, the proprietor of the estate at the time of the Revolution in 1688, was Provost of Edinburgh. At that period the streets of the city were kept in an intolerably filthy state, with the result that plagues were of common occurrence. Provost Dick, being a B