Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

..—PEEBLESSHIREFEEBLESSHIBEmining. According to the returns for 1881, 20 per extended to much land to which previously the steepnessof the hills had prevented the carting of dung ;cent, of the male population were engaged in agriculture,32J per cent, in industrial employments, 3 per cent, in much hili-pasture has, in this way, been converted intocommerce ; 37 per cent, unproductive, and the remaindervariously employed. Of the women 73 per begun to notice the diminution in the number of smallproductive arable land. So early as 1775 observers hadcent, were unproductive, 9 per cent, were in domestic farms and peasant proprietors in Peeblesshire ; and theservice, and the rest variously employed. The ancient process has gone on since then, although even yet thereforests of Leithen, Traquair and Ettrick, and a vast are small holdings in all parts of the shire. Accordingextent of copses in the centre, W and N, formerly to the returns of 1881, there were 34 farms of 1000adorned and sheltered nearly all Tweeddale, protecting acres or more ; 26 between 500 and 1000 ; 65 betweenthe pasturage and encouraging agriculture. So early as 100 and 500 ; and 45 between 5 and 100 acres. Chambers,writing in 1864, says that rents are generally fromthe reign of David I. this woodland district was dottedwith the parks of manors of princes and barons, and £250 to £800, though in some instances upwards ofthe granges and churches of monks, and with mills and £1000 is paid. The general average per acre he puts atkilns and brew houses. Farming and grazing flourished, 32s. or 33s. per acre, except in the neighbourhood ofcorn was raised in abundance, dairies and orchards were towns or villages, where as much as £4 per acre is paid.numerous. This time of prosperity lasted for about two Leases are generally for 19 years, rarely for 21 or anycenturies from 1097 ; but it was followed by 400 years other number of years, except in the case of sheepfarms,which are let on leases of from 9 to 15 years.of retrogression and wretchedness, in which the demolitionof the natural protection of the woods was one of The most common rotation, according to the samethe first and most fatal steps. Dr Pennicuik, who authority, is a five years' one :—(1) Oats after lea ; (2)published his well-known Description of Tweeddale in potatoes, turnips, or other green crops ; (3) baidey, oats,1715, saw the work of renovation commence ; and he or wheat ; (4) grass, for hay or pasture ; (5) grass, aspraised the young landowners for beginning to form pasture. Hinds or married ploughmen receive fromplantations, which, as he foresaw, have enriched as well £13 to £15 in money, together with various perquisites,as embellished the country to the present day. The such as a cow's keep, 65 stones of oatmeal, a month'srural population, though industrious enough, were ' yet food during harvest, etc. A grieve receives about £24 insomething artful, stubborn, and tenacious of oldcustoms. There are,' Pennicuik goes on, 'amongstthem that will not suffer the wrack to be taken out oftheir land, because (say they) it keeps the corn warm,nor sow their bear-seed, be the season wet or dry, tillthe first week of May be over, which they call Eimchieweek, nor plant trees nor hedges, for wronging theundergrowth, and sheltering the birds of the air todestroy their corn ; neither will they trench and ditcha piece of useless boggy ground, for fear of the loss of5 or 6 feet of grass, for a far greater increase ; which,however, with a custom they have of overlaying [overstocking]the ground, which they term full blemishinrj,makes their cattle generally lean, little, and give a meanprice in a market.' In 1830, Archibald, Earl ofIslay, afterwards third Duke of Argyll, began hisfamous attempt to reclaim a piece of boggy ground(which he appropriately rechristened as Whim) bydraining and planting ; and about the same time SirAlexander Murray of Stanhope raised his plantationsand wrote his tracts on agricultural matters ; while thedesire for improvements gradually spread among otherproprietors in the county. The agricultural history ofPeeblesshire has been written by Rev. Charles Findlaterin 1802, who chronicles the successive steps in theadvance. About 1763 or 1764 Mr George Dalziel, innkeeper,first at Linton and then at Noblehouse, was thefirst who sowed turnip in the open fields ; while MrJames Macdougal, a small farmer of Linton, originallyfrom the neighbourhood of Kelso, was, in 1778, the firstperson to introduce the rotation of cropping, the cultivationof turnips for the use of sheep, the growing ofpotatoes in the open fields, and some other reforms.Till 1750 grain used to be winnowed by the wind onhill tops ; but about that date fanners were introduced.The flail had almost disappeared by 1832, its place beingtaken by thrashing-mills, worked by water or horsepower.A very considerable impetus was given toagriculture in 1788, by the security of tenure introducedby the Earl of March, who gave long leases of 57 years.The tenants were encouraged to erect better farm buildings,and to lay out more labour and capital in clearing,enclosing, and improving the land ; and although,ultimately in 1821, the leases were reduced by theHouse of Lords as incompetent on an entailed estate,the advantages were not wholly allowed to disappear.During the present century the farmers and landownersof Peeblesshire have made steady progress ;and in proportionto its natural capacities, Tweeddale rivals evenHaddingtonshire itself in the enlightened methods andskill of its agriculturists. The introduction of guanoand other light fertilizers has enabled cultivation to be170money. Young men living with the farmer receive £18to £20 ; boys, up to £8 a year ; female servants, from£8 to £10. The bothy system of lodging farm labourersis unknown in the county ; but the bondager systemprevails to a certain extent. The following tableindicates the principal crops, and the acreage undereach in various years :1867. 1873. 1874. 1880.Barley, .... 1,415 1764 1,8811,3181882.1,183Oats 9,000 9561 9,319 9,057 9,263Pease 146 26 28 6 73Turnips, .... 5,297 5775 5,144 4,820 4,748Potatoes, 616 690 626 1,006 671Cabbage, etc.. 94 286 380 268 333Other Green Crops, 159 127 134 151 135Bare Fallow, . 137 91 4Grass, Permanent Pasture, 13,616 10,371 11,297 13,977Grass in Rotation,11,733 13,001 13,995 12,044In 1874 there were 9041 acres under plantation ; in 1882,10,177. Market gardens and nursery grounds occupiedonly 7 acres in 1882.The following table shows the quantity of farm stockat various dates :Horses,Cattle,Sheep, .Pigs, . .1867. 1874. 18S0. 1882.4,968180,7961,1749166,533201,2599551,1846,934199,5127198926,643189,753872In Peeblesshire, as may be inferred from the precedingstatistics, as well as from the nature of the surface,sheep-farming is a highly important industry. Inmany cases, arable farming is combined with it by thesame farmer, but the hills in Tweedsmuir near theupper course of the Tweed, and those flanking thevalleys of the Leithen, Manor, and Megget, are too highfor agriculture, and are entirely devoted to sheeppasturing.This industry had already begun to be ofimportance in Peeblesshire in the beginning of the 17thcentury. In the short account of the county whichappeared in 1654, along with Timothy Pont's Map inBlaew's Atlas, mention is made of the good and wholesomepasturage for sheep to be found, especially in theS next Selkirkshire ; and Pennicuik, in 1715, mentionsthat the county is ' stored with such numbers ofsheep that in the Lintoun mercats, which are keptevery Wednesday during the months of June and July,there have frequently been seen 9000 in the customer's