IN SCOTLAND.
281
licular attention to that first of improvements. The isles aredeplorably naked and open. None, excepting five or six ofthe most southerly, and a few farms in Skye , are furnishedwith any thing which merits the name of inclosure ; and ac-cordingly their agricultural state is miserably bad. On Ar-ran, Islay, Jura, Mull, Skye, and the Long-Island , there areabout 800,000 acres of land totally destitute of fences of anykind; but which, by being properly inclosed, instead of theirpresent average rent of twopence an acre, might yield threeshillings, and thereby bring an additional rental of aboveL. 113,000 *.?’
In the report of the Hebrides , from which the last ob-servation is quoted, the total amount of moors and wastelands is stated at 2,800,000 acres ; of which the reporterseems to consider the above-mentioned quantity as capableof, or fitted for inclosure; being two parts in seven for inclofsure, and five parts to remain open.
Want of inclosure, in many situations at least, infers wantof shelter also. The consequences of this want may be esti-mated from the following facts. It is not uncommon in thecounty of Dumfries, during severe weather in April and May,for particular farms to lose a third part of the lambs, ofwhat is called the Cheviot breed. In the parish of Eskdale-moor, in the night of the 24th January 1794, above 4000sheep, several heifers, and one or two people perished. Inthe same year, a respectable farmer in Lanarkshire sold L. 50worth of skins at 8 d- each, having lost 1500 sheep, probablyworth from L. 750 to L. 1000.
Innumerable other practical illustrations might have beenstated in favour of inclosqres, as promoting the interests ofthe landlord and tenant directly, and that of the public indi-rectly. But what has been already brought forward, maysuffice for the object in view; and the reader is requested to