200
LAND OCCUPIED BY FARMERS
25 shillings to L. 3 for loams, and L. 5 to L. 5, G s. for bestcarse lands. In Perthshire, from 10 shillings for poor arableland, to L.5 and even to L.6, 10 s. for some rich carse farms.In Forfarshire, in the interior, from 15 to 50 shillings, in largefarms, according to their quality; and near the principaltowns, from L. 4 to L. 7, or L. 8. But the mountain pas-ture in this district varies from 3 to 10 shillings. The aver-age rate of arable land may be estimated at 20 shillings perEnglish acre over this very extensive district.
The 5th district contains an eighth part of the surface ofScotland j and nearly the same proportion of its total rent,or more exactly L. 550,000. As nearly two-thirds of this isuncultivated, the arable land at an average is only 12 shillingsper acre. But in the vicinity of Aberdeen, land trenchedfrom the barren moor within these fifty years is rented fromL.5 to L. 10, and some of the old arable land is rented onleases for years by nurserymen and gardeners, for above L. 15per Scotch acre. The great quantity of poor arable land inthe interior and highland districts reduces the general ave-rage ; but near the sea-coast and in the fertile valleys of theHowe of the Mearns in Kincardineshire —of the Garioch,Formartin, and Buchan, in Aberdeenshire —of the Boyne,Enzie, and Strathisla, in Banffshire , and in the maritime partsof the counties of Elgin and Nairn, no good arable land islet under 30 shillings, and some of it is let above L. 3 peracre. The barren mountains in the Grampians are rated be-low sixpence; and the hill pastures in general are valued from2 to 3 shillings, in the lower parts of the district.
In the 6th district, or that part of the counties of Argyleand Inverness , that lies on the mainland, (which contains aboveone-sixth part of the surface of Scotland , but of which notone-twentieth part is arable), the rent of land is comparativelylow, though all that the natives can afford to pay ; but inmany cases is high, where sheep-farming is introduced.In the vicinity of Inverness and Campbeltown the ara-ble land rents from L. 2 to L. 3, or L. 4 per acre ; but the