Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

AGRICULTUKE.
afterwards machines were devised for making tiles and
pipes of clay, the first of these, the invention of the
Marquis of Tweeddale, being exhibited at the Highland
Society's Perth Show in 1836. Other machines quickly
followed, and the cost of making the tiles being much
reduced, a great stimulus was given to thorough under-
ground drainage, the merits of which were at once
recognised as interfering less than surface draining with
the nutritive ingredients of the soil. So extensively
has it been carried out that the old plan of forming the
surface soil into ridges, with open cross-cuts in the
hollows to carry off the water, has been almost entirely
abandoned, and the land is now laid as flat as possible,
which conduces greatly to tillage operations and the
working of the reaper during harvest. The Drainage
Act of 1846, authorising loans from the public funds to
promote the improvement of land by works of drainage,
was more largely taken advantage of by proprietors
and tenants in Scotland than in either England or Ire-
land. With the introduction of tile pipes the old
stone drains fell into desuetude, and the new system
largely promoted the draining of land for turnip culti-
vation. The horse-shoe was the first form of tile pipe,
but that has been superseded by the cylindrical pipe, of
about 2 inches diameter, which takes up little room, is
strong and light, and forms an efficient channel for the
water. If the work is well done, the pipes should last
for about fifty years.
No great practical success has been achieved in the
way of draining by machinery. On favoured soils the
mole-draining plough might perform good work at a
moderate depth. Its mode of working is to leave an
open channel in its progress through the soil, and the
water is carried from that channel to the main drains.
Messrs Fowler introduced a draining plough which was
able to make a complete pipe-drain at a single operation,
the pipes being strung on a rope and drawn through
the soil behind the mole fixed on the point of the
coulter. It could be worked to a depth of 3^ feet
in suitable soils, and when shown at the Royal Society's
Show at Lincoln in 1854 it seemed to give satisfaction;
but it could not be practised to any great extent in this
country. The most ingenious of the various draining
machines was the invention of Messrs Robson & Herd-
man, which was exhibited at the Derby Show of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1881. By
means of this implement the drain was excavated by a
series of revolving buckets cutting to the required depth
and fall, the drain pipes being laid and the soil returned
to its position by shoots. The machine was driven by
a wire-rope, like a steam plough or cultivator, the whole
process being accomplished automatically. The price,
however, was so high — being nearly £400 — as to be
practically prohibitive, and no more simple or less ex-
pensive draining machine has since been brought out.
Farm Machinery. — The agricultural engineer has
done more than keep pace with the advance in agri-
culture. He has anticipated the wants of the farmer,
and has provided him with a complete set of farm
machinery, equipped with which he is placed in a
much more advantageous position for prosecuting his
business than were the farmers of preceding genera-
tions. Mechanical ingenuity has shown itself promin-
ently in every branch of the farmer's industry, and
something like a revolution has been effected in the
methods and appliances of husbandry. Steam and
machinery have largely taken the place of manual
labour; self-delivery reapers and binders have ousted
the primitive sickle from the field ; the thrashing
machine has been substituted for the slow and laborious
Hail; and the work of harvesting has in consequence
been lightened and cheapened, while the period neces-
sary to secure the crops has been much shortened.
1696
The most essential implement of tillage is the plough,
which plays such an important part in the cultivation
of the soil, the thorough stirring of the land being
necessary to secure a proper ' tilth ' and destroy vege-
table and animal pests. The swing-plough has met
with general acceptance throughout Scotland, and it
is the one in use on most farms. Its utility has been
thoroughly tried, and it has been found to answer best
the conditions of Scottish agriculture. Introduced by
James Small in 1760, it speedily supplanted the rude
and cumbrous Scottish plough drawn by oxen. It
has undergone considerable improvements, but its
main features are unaltered. Wheel-ploughs are not
popular in the northern part of the kingdom, and they
have never made way to any extent on this side of the
Tweed. In 1866 Mr Pirie of Kinmundy invented a
double-furrow plough set on a frame with three wheels,
and it has been attended with considerable success,
although the single-furrow swing-plough, drawn by a
pair of horses, still retains the favour of farmers. The
importance of stirring the soil to as great a depth as
possible led Mr Smith of Deanston to follow up his
system of thorough drainage by introducing a subsoil
plough, which has since been improved so as to lessen
the draught and friction. Drill-ploughs, with double
mould-boards, are used for laying up the furrows of
green crops, this implement having been brought into
requisition with the system of growing green crops in
parallel rows.
The farmers of Scotland, while they have been quick
to avail themselves of modern improvements in the
appliances for successful husbandry, have not shown
any eagerness for the application of steam to the culti-
vation of the soil, and accordingly horse-power is still
the recognised means of draught, except in one or two
localities where special circumstances favour the work-
ing of the steam-plough. Although first introduced to
Scotland about half a century ago, the steam-plough
has not made much progress, there being probably not
more than fifty sets of the tackle in the country. This
may be partly due to the elaborate and costly apparatus
necessary, but it is also owing in great measure to the
satisfaction given by the swing-plough as a means of
cultivation. Where deep ploughing is desirable, there
can be no question as to the advantages possessed by
the steam cultivator, but for its successful working large
square fields, with a comparatively flat surface and an
absence of stones and boulders, are almost essential,
and these conditions are not always obtainable without
a deal of extra labour, for which the celerity of the
steam-plough would hardly compensate. The steam-
plough was first brought under the notice of Scottish
agriculturists by the eighth Marquis of Tweeddale; and
encouraged by the success attending the application of
steam-power to thrashing and other operations of the-
farm, the Highland and Agricultural Society in 1837
offered a premium of £500 for the successful cultivation
of the soil by steam, the operations to be judged of in
relation to the cost of animal power. Although the-
premium was continued till 1843, no one competed for
it, and it was then withdrawn. A practical demonstra-
tion of the working of the steam-plough — although
attended with unfortunate results — was, however, given,
for the first time in Scotland in 1837, when an imple-
ment brought out by Mr Heathcote, M.P., and which
had been seen at work in Lancashire, was tried oa
Lochar Moss, near Dumfries, in connection with the
Highland and Agricultural Society's Show. The plough-
was in operation for three days, and seemed to work
with a fair degree of success, but during the following
evening it disappeared in the moss, where it still lies-
buried. Nothing daunted by this untoward circum-
stance, the National Agricultural Society, urged oa