The heaviest rains are from the east and south east, and the heaviest snows from the north and north-east. At Crescent, half a mile westward of Dundee, the quantity of rain that fell during six years, from 1790 to 1795 inclusive, varied from 22.27 inches to 34.12 ; but at Belmont, in the centre of Strathmore, during the same years, it was from 31.45 to 39.55. The mean height of the barometer at Belmont, during the first three of these years, was 29.60, and of the thermometer 42°. At Cres cent, the mean degree of cold during winter, for the whole period, was from 32i° to 39g°, and of heat during summer, 60•° to 66°. The south-east wind blows at Crescent twenty-one, and the south-west one hundred and nine days annually, whereas at Belmont, the former prevails eighty-five and the lat ter one hundred and thirty-eight days.
The principal lochs or lakes have been already mentioned as containing shell-marl. To these may be added Lochlee among the Grampians, from which the North Esk issues, and Lentrathan near their base. None of the streams are so considerable as to have the name of rivers, but are called waters. The North Esk, after leaving Lochlee, flows towards the east, and then the south-east, where it forms the boundary between this county and Kincardine shire, and falls into the sea about three miles north east of Montrose, having received the Mark, the Tarf, the Westwater, and the Cruick in its course. The South Esk rises in the north-western part of the county, among the Grampian summits of Clova, and passing by Brechin, discharges itself into the basin of Montrose, five miles from the mouth of the North Esk, after being joined by the waters of Prosen, Carrity, and other mountain streams. Its general course is from north-west to south-east. Isla, the last stream of any note, has also its source in the Grampians, flowing from the summit of the glen which bears its name, in a direction from north to south, until, at Ruthven, it bends to the westward, and joins the Tay in Perthshire. Below the bridge of Craig it has Cut a chasm, in some places more than a hundred feet in depth, through a barrier of porphyry and gravelstone rocks, where it forms cas cades of singular beauty. The Dean, the Lunan, the Dighty, and a few others, are inconsiderable streams.
Much of the landed property of Forfarshire has changed its owners within the last century ; of the forty barons mentioned by Edward, in the work al ready referred to, the descendants of not more than a third of them now possess estates in it. It is, in
general, divided into estates of a moderate size : in 1811, a large proportion were from L.100 to L. 1000 a year, some from L.2000 to L. 6000, but only one or perhaps two worth L. 12,000 a year. About a third part of the county is now held un der entail. The valued rent is L. 171,239, 16s. 8d. Scots, which is divided among two hundred and sixty-six estates, three fourths of them below L.500 Scots. The real rent of the lands in 1811 was L.260,196, 15s. od. which is less than 10s. an acre, and of the houses L. 64,108 Sterling. In the same year, the number of freeholders entitled to vote for a member for the county was one hundred and seventeen. There are more than sixty gentlemen's seats, some of them venerable for their extent and antiquity, such as the Castles of Glammis, Brechin, and Airly, and the House of Panmure, and others, distinguished for elegance and the beauty of their situation. Among the latter Kinnaird Castle, the seat of Sir David Carnegie, is the most magnifi cent.
Farms are of every size, but in general not large, the average size of such as are arable being from 100 to 250 acres. There is a greater number below than above 100 acres. According to the Agricul tural Survey, the whole number of farms in 1808 was 3222, of which about the half were under L. 20 of yearly rent, and only 86 above L.300. In the western division of the Grampian district, the arable land is still held in runrig or intermixed, and the moun tains in common, either without leases,or on leases not exceeding nine years. Throughout the rest of the county, the leases are commonly for nineteen or twenty-one years. The farm-houses lately erected in the lower parts of the county are in general con venient and comfortable, but in the Grampians they are still miserable huts, with walls of stone and turf alternately, five feet high, and covered with thatch fastened with ropes in the form of a hay rick. In some parts where stones are scarce, cottages and even small farm-houses are built with clay, wrought up and mixed with straw, but in general the cot tages are built with stone and clay, with clay floors, and thatched roofs, one of which may be constructed for about L.15. Their number has been much di minished of late.