Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

613
B E R-
was 192,138, or more than three-fifths of the entire area.
Of this, 63,526 acres were under corn crops, 34,155 under
green crops, 56,940 under clover and grasses, and 36,858
permanent pasture, meadow, or grass not broken up in
rotation (exclusive of heath or mountain land). The
average extent of land occupied by each occupant was 194
acres. Wheat was grown on 6373 acres; barley or here,
on 21,469; oats, on 33,130; potatoes, on 2593; turnips
and swedes, on 30,345. Of live stock there were 5356
horses, 16,979 cattle, 285,578 sheep, 4527 pigs. Though
about the twentieth in size of the Scottish counties,
Berwickshire stands fifth in the number of acres under corn
crops, fifth also in green crops, and ninth in the number
of sheep. The farm-buildings are convenient and well
built. These include cottages for the farm-labourers, or
hinds, and their families,—the ordinary staff consisting of a
steward, a shepherd, and a number of ploughmen propor¬
tionate to the size of the farm. The farm-labourers, who
are physically well developed, are as a whole a frugal,
industrious, intelligent race. They are somewhat migratory
in their habits, being too ready to move from place to place
year after year. This feature in their character, which they
may have by inheritance as Borderers, has admirably fitted
them for colonial life, to which the lack of employment in
mining or manufactures in the county has largely drawn
the surplus population.
The minerals of Berwickshire are insignificant. Coal,
copper ore, and ironstone exist in such small quantities that
attempts to work them have been abandoned ; and the lime¬
stone is at too great a distance from a coal district to warrant
competition with theadjoining counties. The Tweedsahnon
fisheries are productive of an important trade, and are so
subject to vicissitudes that much attention has been paid to
them by means of legislative enactments. The lesser rivers
of the Merse are held in high esteem by anglers. Besides
Eyemouth there are three villages—Burnmouth, Coldingham
Shore, and Cove—engaged in the sea-fisheries, which are
of considerable and increasing value. Cod, haddock,
herring, ling, lobsters, and crabs are the principal produce.
Berwickshire cannot boast of many manufactures. Earlstoun
sends out ginghams and woollen cloths. At Cumledge, also,
on the Whiteadder, there is a factory for heavy woollen
cloths; and four miles further down the river, at Chirnside
Bridge, is one of the largest paper mills in Scotland. The
other manufactures are all connected with agriculture, such
as distilleries, breweries, tanneries, &c. The trade is also
mainly agricultural. Fairs are held at Dunse, Lauder,
Coldstream, Greenlaw, and Oldhamstocks; but the sales
of cattle and sheep are now mostly accomplished at the
weekly or fortnightly auction marts at Reston, Dunse, and
Earlstoun. The grain markets are held at Dunse and
Earlstoun. Berwick, from which the county derives its
name, is still its chief market-town. There is, however, no
legal or fiscal connection between the county and the borough.
The early history of Berwickshire is to a great extent
bound up with that of the ancient frontier town; from its
position it also suffered much during the Border wars. The
most noteworthy antiquities are Coldingham Priory in the
E. and Dryburgh Abbey in the S.W. They were burnt in the
same year, 1545, during the barbarous inroad of the English
army under the earl of Hereford. About four miles N.
from Coldingham are the ruins of East Castle (“The
Wolfs Crag” of the Bride of Lammermoor), situated on a
peninsular cliff, 120 feet by 60, and 70 feet above the sea.
A little further north is the Pease or Peaths Bridge, built
by Telford, in 1786, over the deep glen which forms the
celebrated pass—of old one of the strongest natural defences
of Scotland. Near it is Cockburnspath Tower, once a strong
fortress, now in ruins. In the west of Berwickshire, besides
Dryburgh, there are, at Earlstoun, the remains of the ancient
-BEE
tower “ The Rhymer’s Castle,” the traditional residence of
Thomas Learmont, commonly called Thomas of Ercildoune
or Thomas the Rhymer. About a mile from Earlstoun is
Cowdenknowes, on a hill above which grew the “bonnie
broom” of the old song. None of it now remains, it having
been gradually encroached upon by the plough, and the last
of it killed by the severe frost of 1861-62. Hume Castle,
the ancient seat of the Home family, also towards the west,
has a most commanding view, and is itself visible from
nearly every part of the county. Traces of Roman occupa¬
tion and of ancient British settlements exist in various parts
of the Merse. Edin’s or Etin’s Hall, on Cockburn Law,
about four miles north of Dunse, still goes under the name
of the Pech’s or Piet’s House. There are many large
mansions throughout the county, the principal being
Thirlestane Castle (earl of Lauderdale), Mertoun House
(Lord Polwarth), Mellerstain and Lennel House (earl of
Haddington), Nesbit (Lord Sinclair), Dunse Castle (Hay),
Wedderburn and Paxton (Milne Home), Lees (Sir John
Marj oribanks),f Lady kirk (Baroness Marjoribanks), Ayton
Castle (Mitchell Innes), Hirsel (earl of Home). The chief
towns are Greenlaw, the county town, with a population of
823; Dunse, 2618 ; Lauder, 1046, a royal burgh, which
unites with the Haddington group of burghs in returning
a member to parliament; Coldstream, 1724; and Eye¬
mouth, 2324, the only seaport of the county. There is
one sheriff for the three border counties of Berwick, Rox¬
burgh, and Selkirk, and a sheriff-substitute holds his court
in Dunse. Justice of the Peace courts are held at Cold¬
stream and at Ayton, and a burgh court at Lauder. The
county is divided into thirty-one parishes, and it returns
one member to parliament. Population of Berwickshire,
36,486—males, 17,414; females, 19,072.
The fauna and flora of Berwickshire have been care¬
fully described by the late Dr George Johnston, and further
information may be obtained regarding these from the
Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalist’s Club.
BERYL, a mineral species which includes, in addition
to what are ordinarily known as beryls, the aquamarine or
precious beryl and the emerald. The similarity between
the beryl and the emerald was pointed out by Pliny, and
the only points of distinction are the green colour of the
emerald and the somewhat superior hardness of the beryl.
The colour of the emerald is generally believed to be due to
the presence of a minute portion of oxide of chromium,
although M. Lewy asserts, from analysis of Muzo emeralds,
that it is really owing to the presence of organic matter.
Their composition is—
Beryl. Emerald.
Silica 67‘00 68‘50
Alumina 16'50 15‘75
Glucina 14-50 12'50
Chromium oxide 0’00 0'30
Iron oxide 1’00 I'OO
Lime 0'50 0'25
The metal glucinum, from its presence in the beryl, is
sometimes termed beryllium. The beryl crystallizes in six-
sided prisms with the crystals often deeply striated in a
longitudinal direction ; its hardness in the mineralogical
scale is from 7'5 to 8, and its specific gravity from 2’67 to
2‘732. Leaving out of account the emerald, the colours of
the beryl range from blue through soft sea green to a pale
honey yellow, and in some cases the stones are entirely
colourless. The aquamarine is so named on account of
its bluish green colour, “ qui viriditatem puri maris imitan-
tur” (Pliny, N. H., xxxvii. 20). The chrysoberylus, chry-
soprasus, and chrysolithus of ancient jewellery appear to
some extent at least to have been names applied to different
shades of beryl. The beryl was highly prized for use in
jewellery by the Romans, by whom it was cut into six-sided
prisms {cylindri) and mounted as ear-drops. Some of the