IN SCOTLAND.

233

questrated corners of Scotland , where the tenants are poor,and the ground barren, or difficult to be reclaimed, thedawn of improvement, either in the implements or practiceof agriculture, is only beginning to appear. But these forlornspots bear little proportion to those happier districts, in whichcultivation is cherished by the benignity of the proprietors,and the industry of the tenantry ; by which means the art ofhusbandry is ascending to its meridian.

Thus we have given a short account of the implements ofconveyance which were formerly made use of in Scotland . andshall next proceed to describe the carts, or wheel-carriages,now generally employed in that country.

Carts, or Wheel-carriages in general.

Wheels have long been applied to carriages for variouspurposes; and they are of very great utility, not only for dis-patch, but also for diminishing labour. But, whether highor low wheels are of most advantage, or most easily drawn,has long been, and still is, a subject of dispute, even amongpersons skilled in mechanics. It is evident, however, thatwhatever difference there is in the diameter of two wheels, iftheir centres are on a level with the moving power, the onewill require the same force to roll it along on a hard smoothsurface, or horizontal plane, as the other ; so that, in this case,the high wheel has no advantage over the lower one. It istherefore only in different circumstances, that one diameter ofcarriage-wheels is preferable to another; because in some si-tuations, the high wheels have the advantage, and in others thelower ones. For it is obvious, that a wheel of large diameterwill pass over any obstacle more easily than a less one, sup-posing the centres of both on a level with the moving power ;it would therefore seem, that carts should have wheels, whose'centres are nearly the height of that point on the shoulders ofthe cattle where the draught is fixed. This, however, will onlyhold good when the cart is on a horizontal or level road ; for,in going up a steep path, the distance of the point of draught