OF SCOTLAND.

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now remain, are only to be seen occasionally in heavy wetsoils, with bad bottoms, or retentive subsoils. On thin weakclays, there is no doubt some danger in reducing these highcrooked ridges to straight lands of equal breadths and mo-derate height ; but on all fertile soils of good depth, thepropriety of that great and obvious improvement, in regardto convenience, profit, and beauty, admits of no doubt what-ever. Before attempting this operation, however, such landsought to be carefully and effectually under-drained; and, af-ter a complete efficient summer fallow, the soil ought to bethoroughly saturated with calcareous manure, that the por-tion which had been formerly buried, and is now brought upto the surface, may be rendered equally fertile with the ma-nured soil of the old surface *.

• It has often been a matter of speculation, to account for the original forma-tion of the ancient crooked ridges, which are all invariably in the shape of a longItalian/, but with the curvatures at both ends always reversed, as if that letterWere written from the right hand to the left. The inquiry is merely a matter ofcuriosity, tending to no practical usefulness, but may perhaps be thus explained.The ancient plough, and the team by which it was drawn, were both of greatlength ; the plough being drawn by three, or even four pairs of oxen : or even,as may still be seen in some parts of England, by six horses on end, in the tan-dem fashion; perhaps the whole extending to fifteen or even twenty yards inlength. Had the main ridges in those days been drawn in straight lines, itWould necessarily have required a head-ridge of enormous breadth on which theunwieldy implement and its numerous team could be turned. To obviate tillsinconvenience and difficulty, an oblique curvature or deflection became necessaryat each end, to enable the team to draw the plough out upon a head-ridge ofmoderate dimensions. As the ridges were all gathered into high crowns, someof them to a prodigious height, the deflection to the left, and the subsequentturning to the right after the plough was drawn obliquely out upon the head-land, answered the purpose of the ploughman infinitely better than if the deflec-tion had been to the right; because, when to the left, the ponderous plough wasdragged round to the place at which it had again to enter by the team alone;whereas, had the deflection been to the right, the ploughman would have beenreduced to the necessity of dragging back the weight of his plough, loaded withHie harness, by main strength, to make it enter again at the proper place; whichhardly any person could have been able to do with the large and heavy old Scotch

plough.