Volume 2

An account of the systems of husbandry adopted in the more improved districts of Scotland ... / [Sir John Sinclair].

  • Sinclair, John, Sir, 1754-1835.
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the systems of husbandry adopted in the more improved districts of Scotland ... / [Sir John Sinclair]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    511/532 (page 199)
    they formed the dykes three feet thick at the base, one foot -eight inches at top, and from five to six feet in height. In some cases, they piled up the stones in large regular heaps, till they might be wanted by themselves or neighbours; and in one in- ‘stance, a fence-wall was built of the thickness of 18 feet. A very large quantity also, was disposed of for under-ground drains, ‘which were made of ‘a much larger size than would otherwise have been necessary for carrying off the superfluous moisture. Sometimes, excavations in the form of drains were dug, merely for the purpose of burying the stones, and of enabling the feuers to employ the subsoil taken out from such excavations, in filling up the hollows and vacancies occasioned by the removal of the ‘stones in different parts of the surface. As the feuers at first ge- ‘nerally occupied themselves and their families, at their leisure hours, in clearing the ground by degrees, it is not easy to esti- mate the original expence of laying the stones on the surface, and breaking them down to such a size as to render them fit to be put in a cart to be removed. The price, too, must of course vary, in proportion to the probable quantity of stones to be re- moved. Of late years, this operation has cost from L.10 to 1.25, which latter is the largest sum yet given when the work was done by contract. This most difficult and laborious pro- cess of laying the stones on the surface being accomplished, the next step is to get them removed, which is generally done by means of hand-barrows, when they are used for fencing the ground out of which they are taken, as already described, or by strong carts constructed for the purpose, when they are to be carried off the ground. The land after being cleared, was ge- nerally allowed to lie one or two years uncultivated, in order to allow time for the vegetable substances found in it, and turned up by the operation of clearing, ‘to rot and mix with the soil. The feuers at the end of this period, generally allowed 60 Winchester bushels of shell-lime per acre for its improvement, which, at the rate of two shillings per bushel, caused them to incur an addi- tional expence of L.6 per acre. There are at this time about | 200 acres of the feued moor cleared, inclosed, and improved as above, besides some small clumps of wood, planted by the feuers