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

214
LANARKSHIRE.
the Tipper ward, where native sterility has been
overcome by the improved practice, and increased
knowledge of the husbandman, and along the great
mail line of road from Glasgow to Carlisle in parti-
cular, smiling arable farms have risen up, where, 30
years ago, there was nothing but stinted herbage,
unproductive moss, or luxuriant furze or heather.
Even the pasture-lands have been much improved of
late by the new system, and particularly by the ex-
tent to which tile-draining has been carried in this,
as well as in every other part of the county. This
picture, however, only applies to a small portion of
the Upper ward, and though the soil is daily changing
for the better, still its general characteristics are
those of churlishness. Wheat has been grown, but
not extensively, for it has been found that this grain
has never paid the farmer, except in the most pro-
pitious and sunniest seasons. Oats, however, are
extensively cultivated, and for them the soil appears
to be by nature adapted, as well as for barley,
though not to the same extent. Potatoes are raised
in large amount, and they thrive as well, and are of
as fair quality, as those grown upon the lower and
warmer districts of the county. Turnip husbandry
has also been introduced here with considerable suc-
cess, and on the whole, by changing for the better
the old system of rotation, it has been the means of
considerably increasing the products of the soil. In
former years flax was grown to considerable extent,
spun into yarn by the women of the district, and
sold by them into the markets of Lanark, Carnwath,
Biggar, and others; but the facilities for the intro-
duction of flax from the Baltic, and more than this,
the cheapness and improved quality of cotton-cloth,
has almost extirpated this species of cultivation from
the land, and those industrious dames who spent
their days in ' Twining out a thread wi' little din,'
are now rarely met with either in cot-house, hamlet,
or village.
The Middle ward is much less mountainous than
the Upper, and at its commencement the loftiness of
the hills falls away, and the declivity extends to-
wards the north-west. The surface is everywhere
broken into inequalities, and throughout there is
little level space, except the valleys on each bank of
the Clyde : which see. The cultivated land of this
ward is generally from 250 to 300 feet above the
level of the sea, and even this elevation is consider-
ably lower than the locality of the town of Hamil-
ton. The soil is as various as the undulations it
presents, but in general it may be said to consist of
clay, intermixed with sand, and along the valley of
the Clyde rich alluvial soils are met with upon a
gravel bed. Within these last 20 years, the mosses
in this district were computed to extend to more
than 40,000 acres, or nearly one-third of the whole
ward ; but a considerable extent of these have now
been brought under tillage, by the enterprise of the
tenant and the encouragement of the landlord, and
every year sees the unprofitable dominion of the
morass lessened. If the soil is various, its produc-
tions are equally so. In some of the wet and cold
districts which are met with in Shotts and else-
where, wheat is generally as little cultivated as in
the pastoral parishes of the Upper ward ; but it is
worthy of remark that there are none of the divi-
sions of the Middle district which cannot boast of
some portions of fertile soil within their bounds,
particularly if they are watered by any of the tribu-
taries of the Clyde. In ordinary cases, however,
every kind of produce which enters into the far-
mer's catalogue is here cultivated with success. The
most fertile portion of the Middle ward is that
extending on each bank of the Clyde, stretching
from Lanark to below the town of Hamilton, and
comprehending part of Cambusnethan, with the par-
ishes of Dalserf, Hamilton, Blantyre, Dalziel, Both-
well, and Old Monkland. A great portion of this
territory is owned by his Grace of Hamilton, and the
Lord of Douglas, and all of it is in a high state of
cultivation. The landscape here is peculiarly soft
and inviting. For all the elements of rural sweet-
ness, the drive between Lanark and Hamilton is not
perhaps equalled by any other in the kingdom, if we
except perhaps that along the banks of the Esk be-
tween Langholm and Langtown, on the Scotch and
English border. The hills never rise certainly into
towering magnificence, but they swell gently to a
considerable elevation on either bank of the river,
and are generally either covered with luxuriant pas-
ture, or thriving copsewood to the very summit.
The glades, too, generally present the bold front of
some olden mansion of a Lord of the manor, with
its beautiful policy, studded by timber of ancient
growth; or mayhap the elegant modern dwelling
of a proprietor, who has replaced by it the keep
or tower which served as a dwelling-place to his
fathers. Here, too, are the orchards which, in
spring time and summer, are well and truly desig-
nated the pride of Clydesdale. It is said that orchard
husbandry was introduced into this district by the
Romans, but whether or not this may be the case,
the banks of this noble stream have long been
celebrated for the fruits they bear ; and, though
this species of cultivation is not now so profitable as
it used to be, it is still followed to a great extent,
and it will be matter of much regret if this part
of the country should at any time be deprived of
its choicest, chastest ornament, from the worldly
considerations of pounds, shillings, and pence. [See
article on Clydesdale.] In the end of April, or
beginning of May, when the gorgeous flush of blos-
som decks the trees, and the perfume scents the
gale, the traveller feels as if he were in reality in
the land of the Faery, where " apple-blossom is
strewn upon the wind." It is for its mineral wealth,
however, that the Middle ward is so much and so
deservedly celebrated ; but this subject will be forth-
with noticed.
The Lower ward comprehends a fertile district,
but it is the least interesting of the three, so far as
the external beauties of nature are concerned. It is,
however, by far the most important, from possessing
the city of Glasgow, and that immense hive of popu-
lation, whose ingenuity and untiring industry has done
so much to enrich the northern part of the kingdom,
and render the phrase of " puir auld Scotland" an
unmeaning and obsolete one. It might be expected
from the leviathan maw which is here required to be
filled, that for miles around Glasgow, the soil would
either be laid out in pasture, or in gardens devoted
to the rearing of kitchen-produce. Such is not the
case, however, and it is to be regretted. Corn fields
press upon the very suburbs, but Glasgow has to
depend principally upon Ireland and the east coast
of Scotland for the vegetables which are every day
used by high and low.
The Clyde — which so far as the West of Scotland
is concerned, may aptly be termed the " Father of
Waters" — receives into its bosom all the rivers or
streamlets of any note in this county. First is the
Daer, which, had full justice been done to it, should
have given that well known name which the Clyde
now bears. Then there is the Duneaton, which rises
at the base of Cairntable-hill, and, after a course of
a few miles through Crawfordjohn parish, joins the
Clyde. The Douglas flows through the lovely dale of
that name, and empties itself into the Clyde a little
above Bonnington-falls ; the Culter divides the par-
ish of that name, and passes through a smiling glen;