Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

PEEBLESSHIRE
mining. According to the returns for 1881, 20 per
cent, of the male population were engaged in agriculture,
32J per cent, in industrial employments, 3 per cent, in
commerce ; 37 per cent, unproductive, and the re-
mainder variously employed. Of the women 73 per
cent, were unproductive, 9 per cent, were in domestic
service, and the rest variously employed. The ancient
forests of Leithen, Traquair and Ettrick, and a vast
extent of copses in the centre, W and N, formerly
adorned and sheltered nearly all Tweeddale, protecting
the pasturage and encouraging agriculture. So early as
the reign of David I. this woodland district was dotted
with the parks of manors of princes and barons, and
the granges and churches of monks, and with mills and
kilns and brew houses. Farming and grazing flourished,
corn was raised in abundance, dairies and orchards were
numerous. This time of prosperity lasted for about two
centuries from 1097 ; but it was followed by 400 years
of retrogression and wretchedness, in which the demoli-
tion of the natural protection of the woods was one of
the first and most fatal steps. Dr Pennicuik, who
published his well-known Description of Tweeddale in
1715, saw the work of renovation commence ; and he
praised the young landowners for beginning to form
plantations, which, as he foresaw, have enriched as well
as embellished the country to the present day. The
rural population, though industrious enough, were ' yet
something artful, stubborn, and tenacious of old
customs. There are,' Pennicuik goes on, 'amongst
them that will not suffer the wrack to be taken out of
their land, because (say they) it keeps the corn warm,
nor sow their bear-seed, be the season wet or dry, till
the first week of May be over, which they call Eimchie
week, nor plant trees nor hedges, for wronging the
undergrowth, and sheltering the birds of the air to
destroy their corn ; neither will they trench and ditch
a piece of useless boggy ground, for fear of the loss of
5 or 6 feet of grass, for a far greater increase ; which,
however, with a custom they have of overlaying [over-
stocking] the ground, which they term full blemishinrj,
makes their cattle generally lean, little, and give a mean
price in a market.' In 1830, Archibald, Earl of
Islay, afterwards third Duke of Argyll, began his
famous attempt to reclaim a piece of boggy ground
(which he appropriately rechristened as Whim) by
draining and planting ; and about the same time Sir
Alexander Murray of Stanhope raised his plantations
and wrote his tracts on agricultural matters ; while the
desire for improvements gradually spread among other
proprietors in the county. The agricultural history of
Peeblesshire has been written by Rev. Charles Findlater
in 1802, who chronicles the successive steps in the
advance. About 1763 or 1764 Mr George Dalziel, inn-
keeper, first at Linton and then at Noblehouse, was the
first who sowed turnip in the open fields ; while Mr
James Macdougal, a small farmer of Linton, originally
from the neighbourhood of Kelso, was, in 1778, the first
person to introduce the rotation of cropping, the culti-
vation of turnips for the use of sheep, the growing of
potatoes in the open fields, and some other reforms.
Till 1750 grain used to be winnowed by the wind on
hill tops ; but about that date fanners were introduced.
The flail had almost disappeared by 1832, its place being
taken by thrashing-mills, worked by water or horse-
power. A very considerable impetus was given to
agriculture in 1788, by the security of tenure introduced
by the Earl of March, who gave long leases of 57 years.
The tenants were encouraged to erect better farm build-
ings, and to lay out more labour and capital in clearing,
enclosing, and improving the land ; and although,
ultimately in 1821, the leases were reduced by the
House of Lords as incompetent on an entailed estate,
the advantages were not wholly allowed to disappear.
During the present century the farmers and landowners
of Peeblesshire have made steady progress ; and in pro-
portion to its natural capacities, Tweeddale rivals even
Haddingtonshire itself in the enlightened methods and
skill of its agriculturists. The introduction of guano
and other light fertilizers has enabled cultivation to be
170
FEEBLESSHIBE
extended to much land to which previously the steep-
ness of the hills had prevented the carting of dung ;
much hili-pasture has, in this way, been converted into
productive arable land. So early as 1775 observers had
begun to notice the diminution in the number of small
farms and peasant proprietors in Peeblesshire ; and the
process has gone on since then, although even yet there
are small holdings in all parts of the shire. According
to the returns of 1881, there were 34 farms of 1000
acres or more ; 26 between 500 and 1000 ; 65 between
100 and 500 ; and 45 between 5 and 100 acres. Cham-
bers, writing in 1864, says that rents are generally from
£250 to £800, though in some instances upwards of
£1000 is paid. The general average per acre he puts at
32s. or 33s. per acre, except in the neighbourhood of
towns or villages, where as much as £4 per acre is paid.
Leases are generally for 19 years, rarely for 21 or any
other number of years, except in the case of sheep-
farms, which are let on leases of from 9 to 15 years.
The most common rotation, according to the same
authority, is a five years' one : — (1) Oats after lea ; (2)
potatoes, turnips, or other green crops ; (3) baidey, oats,
or wheat ; (4) grass, for hay or pasture ; (5) grass, as
pasture. Hinds or married ploughmen receive from
£13 to £15 in money, together with various perquisites,
such as a cow's keep, 65 stones of oatmeal, a month's
food during harvest, etc. A grieve receives about £24 in
money. Young men living with the farmer receive £18
to £20 ; boys, up to £8 a year ; female servants, from
£8 to £10. The bothy system of lodging farm labourers
is unknown in the county ; but the bondager system
prevails to a certain extent. The following table
indicates the principal crops, and the acreage under
each in various years : —
1867.
1873.
1874.
1880.
1,318
1882.
1,183
Barley, ....
1,415
1764
1,881
Oats
9,000
9561
9,319
9,057
9,263
Pease
146
26
28
6
73
Turnips, ....
5,297
5775
5,144
4,820
4,748
Potatoes,
616
690
626
1,006
671
Cabbage, etc..
94
286
380
268
333
Other Green Crops,
159
127
134
151
135
Bare Fallow, .
137
91
4
Grass, Permanent Pasture,
13,616
10,371
11,297
13,977
Grass in Rotation, .
11,733
13,001
13,995
12,044
In 1874 there were 9041 acres under plantation ; in 1882,
10,177. Market gardens and nursery grounds occupied
only 7 acres in 1882.
The following table shows the quantity of farm stock
at various dates :
1867.
1874.
18S0.
1882.
Horses,
Cattle, .
Sheep, .
Pigs, . .
4,968
180,796
1,174
916
6,533
201,259
955
1,184
6,934
199,512
719
892
6,643
189,753
872
In Peeblesshire, as may be inferred from the preced-
ing statistics, as well as from the nature of the surface,
sheep-farming is a highly important industry. In
many cases, arable farming is combined with it by the
same farmer, but the hills in Tweedsmuir near the
upper course of the Tweed, and those flanking the
valleys of the Leithen, Manor, and Megget, are too high
for agriculture, and are entirely devoted to sheep-
pasturing. This industry had already begun to be of
importance in Peeblesshire in the beginning of the 17th
century. In the short account of the county which
appeared in 1654, along with Timothy Pont's Map in
Blaew's Atlas, mention is made of the good and whole-
some pasturage for sheep to be found, especially in the
S next Selkirkshire ; and Pennicuik, in 1715, men-
tions that the county is ' stored with such numbers of
sheep that in the Lintoun mercats, which are kept
every Wednesday during the months of June and July,
there have frequently been seen 9000 in the customer's