Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/325

Rh PROGRESS.] AGRICULTURE 303 prevailing breed of the midland counties of England. These, however, were ere long rivalled, and have now been entirely superseded by the shorthorn or Durham breed, which the brothers Colling obtained from the useful race of cattle that had long existed in the valley of the Tees, by applying to them the principle of breeding which Bake well had already established. A more rational system of cropping now began very generally to supersede the thriftless and barbarous practice just referred to of sowing successive crops of corn until the land was utterly exhausted, and then leaving it foul with weeds, to recover its power by an indefinite period of rest. Green crops, such as turnips, clover, and ryegrass, began to be alternated with grain crops, and hence the name alternate husbandry, by which this improved system is generally known. The land was now also generally rendered clea:i and mellow by a summer fallow before being sown with cL.ver or grasses. Hitherto the husbandry of England had been very superior in every respect to that of Scotland. Improvements now, however, made rapid progress in the latter. Mr Dawson, at Frogden, in Roxburghshire, is believed to have been the first who grew turnips as a field crop to any extent. This enterprising farmer having heard of the success with which this crop was cultivated in certain parts of England, took the precaution of seeing for himself the most approved mode of doing so before attempting to introduce it on his own farm. He accordingly went to Leicestershire, and presenting himself to the celebrated Bakewell in the garb of a Scotch ploughman, hired himself to him for six months in that capacity. Having in this thoroughly practical way acquired the knowledge he was in quest of, he told his employer (who would fain have retained him longer) that it was full time for him to be home to his own large farm. The season was too advanced to admit of his doing more that year than sow a few experimental drills, but the very next year he is said to have sown 70 acres. We have been unable to ascertain the exact date of this occurrence, but it is on record that as early as 1764 Mr Dawson had 100 acres of drilled turnips on his farm in one year. A few years after this the Messrs Culley one of them also a pupil of Bakewell left their paternal property on the banks of the Tees, and settled on the Northumbrian side of the Tweed, bringing with them the valuable breeds of live stock and improved husbandry of their native district. The improvements introduced by these energetic and skilful farmers spread rapidly, and exerted a most beneficial influence upon the border counties. An Act passed in 1770, which relaxed the rigour of strict entails, and afforded power to landlords to grant leases and other wise improve their estates, had a beneficial effect on Scottish agriculture. From 1784 to 1795 improvements advanced with steady steps. This period was distinguished for the general adoption and industrious working out of ascertained improvements. Small s swing plough, and Meikle s thrash ing-machine, although invented some years before this, were now perfected and brought into general use, to the .great furtherance of agriculture. Two important additions were about this time made to the field crops, viz., the Swedish turnip and potato oat. The latter was accidentally discovered in 1788, and both soon came into general cultivation. In the same year Merino sheep were intro duced by his Majesty, George III., who was a zealous farmer. For a time this breed attracted much attention, and sanguine expectations were entertained that it would prove of national importance. Its unfitness for the pro duction of mutton, and increasing supplies of fine clothing wool from other countries, soon led to its total rejection. In Scotland, the opening up of the country by the construction of practicable roads, and the enclosing and subdividing of farms by hedge and ditch, was now in active progress. The former admitted of the general use of wheel-carriages, of the ready conveyance of produce to markets, and in particular, of the extended use of liine, the application of which was immediately followed by a great increase of produce. The latter, besides its more obvious advantages, speedily freed large tracts of country from stagnant water, and their inhabitants from ague, and prepared the way for the under-ground draining which soon after began to be practised. Section 2. Remarkable progress from 1795 to 1815. The agriculture of the country was thus steadily improv ing, when suddenly the whole of Europe became involved in the wars of the French Eevolution. In 1795, under the joint operation of a deficient harvest, and the cutting off of foreign supplies of grain by the policy of Napoleon, the price of wheat, which, for the twenty preceding years, had been under 50s. a quarter, suddenly rose to 81s. 6d_, and in the following year reached to 96s. In 1797 the fear of foreign invasion led to a panic and run upon the banks, in which emergency the Bank Restriction Act, suspending cash payment, was passed, and ushered in a system of unlimited credit transactions. Under the un natural stimulus of these extraordinary events, every branch of industry extended with unexampled rapidity. But in nothing was this so apparent as in agriculture ; the high prices of produce holding out a great inducement to improve lands then arable, to reclaim, others that had previously lain waste, and to bring much pasture-land under the plough. Nor did this increased tillage interfere with the increase of live stock, as the green crops of the alternate husbandry more than compensated for the dimi nished pasturage. This extraordinary state of matters lasted from 1795 to 1814; the prices of produce even increasing towards the close of that period. The average price of Avheat for the whole period was 89s. 7d. per quarter; but for the last five years it was 107s., and in 1812 it reached to 126s. 6d. The agriculture of Great Britain, as a whole, advanced with rapid strides during this period ; but nowhere was the change so great as in Scotland. Indeed, its progress there, during these twenty years, is probably without parallel in the history of any other country. This is accounted for by a concurrence of circumstances. Previous to this period, the husbandry of Scotland was still in a backward state as compared with the best districts of England, where many practices, only of recent introduction in the north, had been in general use for generations. This disparity made the subsequent contrast the more striking. The land in Scotland waa now, with trifling exceptions, let on leases for terms varying from twenty to thirty years, and in farms of sufficient size to employ at the least two or three ploughs. The unlimited issues of Government paper, and the security afforded by these leases, induced the Scotch banks to afford every facility to landlords and tenants to embark capital in the improvement of the land. The substantial education supplied by the parish schools, of which nearly the whole population could then avail themselves, had diffused through all ranks such- a measure of intelligence as enabled them promptly to discern, and skilfully and energetically to take advantage of this spring-tide of prosperity, and. to profit by the agricultural information, now plentifully furnished by means of the Bath and West of England Society, established in 1777, the Highland Society, instituted in 1784, and the National Board of Agriculture, in 1793 of which, however, more anon. As one proof of the astonishing progress of Scottish husbandry during this period, we may mention that the rental of land, which in 1795 amounted to 2,000,000, had in 1815 risen to