Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

176
KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE.
being a twelvemonth old, it numbered 130 members,
all landholders and practical farmers, with the Lord-
lieutenant and the member of parliament at their
head. Both before the close of last century and
during the course of the present, plantations, espe-
cially on the grounds of Lord Daer and the Earl of
Selkirk, have risen up to shelter and beautify the
country; but, even with the aid of about 3,500
acres of copsewood, remaining from the ancient for-
ests, they are far from being sufficient in extent or
dispersion to shield the country from imputations
of nakedness of aspect, or prevent it from appearing
to a stranger characteristically wild and bleak. Farm-
bouses exhibit the greatest possible diversity, — con-
tinuing, in some instances, in the same wretched state
as before agricultural improvement began, — and ris-
ing, in others, to a competition in commodiousness
and elegance with any buildings of their class in
Scotland. Farms, in the highland district, usually
vary in size from 6 to 12 square miles; and, in the ar-
able or cultivated grounds, they sometimes extend to
500 or 600 acres, but probably average about 200.
The ordinary currency of leases is 19 years. The
fences, in far the greater proportion of instances, are
the dry stone walls, distinctively known as Gallo-
way dykes; but, in the vicinity of Dumfries, and a
few other localities, they consist of various sorts of
hedges, all ornamental in the featuring they give the
landscape. Agricultural implements are simply the
approved ones known in other well-cultivated coun-
ties. Systems of cropping are necessarily various,
not only throughout the stewartry but very often
in the same parish. The cultivation of wheat is con-
fined chiefly to the district adjacent to Dumfries, and
to the carse-lands and other strong soils in New-
abbey and Kirkbean. Oats are the staple produce,
and obtain much attention by changes of seed within
the stewartry itself, by importation of seed from the
eastern counties of Scotland, and by other measures
fitted to stimulate and improve. The cultivation of
turnips has a large place in talk, and a considerable
one in practice. No crop is, in general, so well
managed as that of potatoes. The purple-red po-
tato seems the favourite both with the soil and the
people. The cultivation of artificial grasses has
been long practised, and for upwards of thirty years
has prevailed in all the improved districts. The
extent of meadow-grounds in the stewartry, taken
jointly with Wigtonshire, is probably not less than
one-twentieth of the whole area.
The breeding and rearing of cattle, seems a pur-
suit naturally suggested by the soil and climate of
Kirkcudbrightshire jointly with Wigtonshire, and
has long been a favourite object of the farmers. Few
countries can boast of pastures whose grass has such
a beautiful closeness of pile, and which, after a
scourging course of crops, so rapidly return to their
natural verdure and fertility. The breed of Gallo-
way cattle — peculiar to the district, though now ex-
tensively known by importations from it — are almost
universally polled, and rather under than over the
medium size, — smaller than the horned breed of Lan-
cashire or the midland counties, and considerably
larger than any of the Highland breeds. Their pre-
vailing colour is black or dark-bnndled. The fol-
lowing, says the Rev. Samuel Smith, in his ' Agri-
cultural View of Galloway,' " are the characters of a
true Galloway bullock. He is straight and broad in
the back, and nearly level from the head to the
rump, closely compacted between the shoulder and
ribs, and also betwixt the ribs and the loins — broad
at, the loins, not however with hooked bones or pro-
jecting knobs; so that, when viewed above, the whole
body appears beautifully rounded like the longitudi-
nal section of a roller. He is long in the quarters,
but not broad in the twist. He is deep in the chest,
short in the leg, and moderately fine in the bone —
clean in the chop and in the neck. His head is of a
moderate size, with large rough ears, and full but
not prominent eyes, or heavy eyebrows, so that he
has a calm though determined look. His well-pro-
portioned form is clothed with a loose and mellow
skin, adorned with long, soft, glossy hair." The
breed has, in some parts of the country, been mate-
rially injured by intermixture with the Irish, the
Ayrshire, and some English breeds. But the off-
shoots of foreign crossings or admixtures are recog-
nizable among the native stock even after fifty or
sixty years have elapsed to efface their peculiarities;
and they are now held in little estimation, and sought
to be substituted by the purest and choicest propa-
gation of the native variety. Few of the cattle are
fed for home consumption. Excepting fat cows, for
the small towns and villages, and about one-fortieth
of the prime cattle for the tables of the opulent, the
whole stock are sent chiefly, at three and three and
a-half years old, to the markets of Dumfries and
England. The principal sales are at St. Faiths and
other markets in Norfolk; but many are effected on
the spot, and many more in the Smithfield of Lon-
don. Vast numbers of transfers, too — chiefly from
inferior or better lands — are made at the weekly or
monthly trysts of Castle-Douglas, and Gatehouse in
Kirkcudbrightshire, and Glenluce, Stranraer, and
Whithorn in Wigtonshire. The number sent an-
nually out of Galloway, previous to the date of the
Agricultural Report, was supposed to be 20,000;
and the entire stock of Kirkcudbrightshire in 1814,
was estimated at 50,000 In the moor and moun-
tainous districts, sheep-husbandry has long been
sedulously plied; but, in other districts, it meets
very trivial attention. Long-woolled Lincolnshire
sheep — here called mugs — were tried and failed. The
Leicestershire merinos, the Herefords, and the Shet-
lands were also introduced, but secured little favour.
The Southdown, the Cheviot, the Morf, and the
Mendip breeds, have had more success, and, jointly
with varieties previously in the district, tenant the
sheep-walks in singular motleyness of character.
Smearing or salving is practised. The number of
sheep in the stewartry, in 1814, was estimated at
178,000. Some remnants still exist of a breed of
horses peculiar to Galloway, and in high estima-
tion for the saddle, small in size, but exceedingly
hardy and active. The breed has been, in a great
measure, lost by the solicitude of farmers to have
horses of greater weight, and better adapted for the
draught. The stewartry's number of horses, in
1814, was estimated at 6,000. Great attention here,
as in Dumfries-shire, is paid to the produce of pork,
. — chiefly for the Dumfries market, and, through it,
for supplying the demands of England. So far back
as 1810, when this object of care was of compara-
tively recent date, the number of swine in Galloway
was supposed to be 10,000, or about one, on the
average, for every family of the inhabitants — Bees
are much attended to in Twynholm, Borgue, Tongue-
land, and Kirkcudbright, and there produce honey
equal, if not superior, to any in the world — Few
districts in Scotland, except the Highlands, are more
abundant than Kirkcudbrightshire, both in number
and variety of game.
The manufactures and commerce of the stewartry
are very inconsiderable. Soap, leather, and paper
are manufactured to aggregately a small amount.
The woollen manufacture, though seriously attempt-
ed, never had success. The cotton manufacture has
been tried in most of the towns and villages ; but,
with rare exceptions, it has either died out, or wears
an emaciated appearance. Other manufactures are