Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
It may have been matter of delicacy for Mr Caird to have
exposed the balance-sheet of his neighbour, or he may have assumed,
rather hastily, statistics for which he had meagre warrant. We can
allow him a large margin. _Without_ potatoes, and such an extent of
potato as would be plainly ludicrous if adopted as a general rule,
Auchness never could have paid. _With_ potatoes, it has failed
in the very year wherein Mr Caird has chosen to exhibit it as a
universal model.
So much for the only instance of high farming which has been
adduced, as an example of its efficacy in superseding the protective
system. In justice to Mr M'Culloch, whom we believe to be a most
intelligent farmer, let it not be thought that we presume to call
it empirical. On the contrary, we are convinced that that gentleman
has acted with great judgment, suiting his management to the nature
of the ground with which he had to deal; and that he has made as
much of it as any man could do under similar circumstances. He was
compelled to deal with a precarious crop, and few men could have
dealt with it better: still, his method is no example to others
differently situated, nor are his results to be taken by them either
as matter of warning or of triumph. It is sufficient for us that
Auchness farming, successful or not, is peculiar, and cannot be
dragged in as a rule or example for the English or the Scottish
farmer. We have enough of high farming statistics to lay before our
readers, and, therefore, without any further apology, we dismiss the
matter of Auchness, as totally inapplicable to the great question at
issue.
In order to arrive as nearly as possible at the true state of the
case, in so far as Scottish farming is concerned, we put ourselves
into communication with two gentlemen, of the highest eminence in
their profession. We need scarcely tell our countrymen on this side
of the Border, that it would be difficult to find better testimony
on such a subject than that of Messrs Watson of Keillor, and
Dudgeon of Spylaw; and we apprehend, moreover, that many English
agriculturists are fully acquainted with their character and high
reputation. Through their kindness we have been furnished with the
statistics of farms situated in the fertile grain-growing districts
of Forfar and Roxburgh; and the calculations as to the yield,
prices, and expenses, were made from their own books. The rent set
down is that which is usual in the district for land of the best
description, and the tenant's capital is named at an amount which
might enable him to develop the full capabilities of the soil. The
estimates have been most carefully framed, with the view of avoiding
every kind of exaggeration; and they have been gone over by Mr
Stephens, who attests their general accuracy. They are as follows:--
No. I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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