The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER 245
the harvest failed; they were again brought back, and the ground
retrieved its fertility. The same experiment has been tried in dif-
ferent parts of Scotland with the same success—Astonished at this
information, I desired to know in what manner he accounted for
this strange phenomenon; and he said there were three ways in
which the stones might be serviceable. They might possibly
restrain an excess in the perspiration of the earth, analogous to
colliquative sweats, by which the human body is sometimes wasted
and consumed. They might act as so many fences to protect the
tender blade from the piercing winds of the spring; or, by multiply-
ing the reflexion of the sun, they might increase the warmth, so as
to mitigate the natural chilness of the soil and climate—But, surely
this excessive perspiration might be more effectually checked by
different kinds of manure, such as ashes, lime, chalk, or marl, of
which last it seems there are many pits in this kingdom: as for the
warmth, it would be much more equally obtained by inclosures;
one half of the ground which is now covered, would be retrieved;
the cultivation would require less labour; and the ploughs, harrows,
and horses, would not suffer half the damage which they now
sustain.
These north-western parts are by no means fertile in corn. The
ground is naturally barren and moorish. The peasants are poorly
lodged, meagre in their looks, mean in their apparel, and remark-
ably dirty. This last reproach they might easily wash off, by means
of those lakes, rivers, and rivulets of pure water, with which they
are so liberally supplied by nature. Agriculture cannot be expected
to flourish where the farms are small, the leases short, and the
husbandman begins upon a rack rent, without a sufficient stock to
answer the purposes of improvement. The granaries of Scotland
are the banks of the Tweed, the counties of East and Mid-Lothian,
the Carse of Gowrie, in Perthshire, equal in fertility to any part
of England, and some tracts in Aberdeenshire and Murray, where
I am told the harvest is more early than in Northumberland,
although they lie above two degrees farther north. I have a strong
curiosity to visit many places beyond the Forth and the Tay, such
as Perth, Dundee, Montrose, and Aberdeen, which are towns
equally elegant and thriving; but the season is too far advanced, to
admit of this addition to my original plan.
I am so far happy as to have seen Glasgow, which, to the best
of my recollection and judgment, is one of the prettiest towns in