General view of the agriculture of the county of Argyll : with observations on the means of its improvement / Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement by John Smith.

  • John Smith
Date:
1798
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General view of the agriculture of the county of Argyll : with observations on the means of its improvement / Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement by John Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    eafe, and to great advantage *. Such a fubjedl Is capable of being made of itfelf a great eftate. Many fuch are in the county, efpecially in the upper parts oHt, and fome of them of Hill greater extent. A flieet of mofs on only one farm there is computed to be no lefs than 10 or 12 miles fquare. One can hardly indulge the hope that fuch a fubje£l, and fo fituated, will ever be improved. But furely in the higheft habitable fituations In the county, fome portion at lead of this kind of ground might be profitably cultivated. There arable and meadow lands are fcarce. Mofs might be made to fupply the deficiency, and yield, what is much wanted, a fufficient quantity of hay. Even with a view to pafture, one acre might thus be made to produce more than 20 or 30 in their natural ftate. The fituation does not forbid fuch im- provement. It is believed that no habitation in this county is much higher than the Lead-hills, and yet there, one acre of wafte ground, originally not worth one fhilling, has been brought to feed two cows. “ This fhows what culture will efFecf, even in a wildernefs f The great obftacle to improvements of this kind In the upper part of the county is, that the land is generally under the fheep fyftem, and in too few hands. A man who holds a tra£l: of many miles w'ill never improve many acres. If the land were in more hands, and, partly at leal];, ftocked with a breed of fheep that could bear to' be folded, in order to ma- nure it, much agricultural Improvement might reafonably be expelled, now when the fpirit and knowledge of it is fo much diffufed. One argument, however, fliould weigh much with our ftoremafters, and induce them to improve fome part of their wafte ground* ; and that is, that the braxyy a difeafe fo fatal to their flocks, may be effeftually prevented, by having * This improvement Is Cnee begun, and confidcrably advanced, f Stat. vi.f. IV. 511.