CARSE is a term applied in Scotland to low lands adjoining rivers. The word is of uncertain origin. In Stirlingshire, it is restricted in its sense to the level alluvial soils which are only a few feet above the river Forth. In Perthshire, it also applies to the whole of the slightly the n, of the Tay, which form the C. of Gow rie. C. soils usually consist of argillaceous deposits, which produce crops of great luxuriance, although there are some which consist of hungry and barren clays. The richest of them are of a hazel color, and become friable when exposed to the action of frost; the poorest, on the other hand, are of a yellow color, containing little vegetable matter to render them amenable to cultivation. The best kinds of .C. sons are generally farmed on the six-course shift-1. Grass; 2. Oats; 3. Beans; 4. Wheat; 5. Potatoes; 6. Turnips or fallow. Large crops of grass are grown when the clover-plant catches. It is mostly made into hay, and the after-math is used for soiling horses and cattle in the straw-yards. The land is seldom pastured, as the feet of animals trample and destroy
the grasses, when the weather is wet. The oat-crop is more uncertain on the carses, but in favorable years, the yield is large, and the quality of the grain is excellent. Beans are very successfully grown, indeed the best of the C. soils are the best bean-soils in Scotland. Where the land is rich, and not too stiff, the potato is sometimes largely grown. On the poorest description of the C. soils, the potato does not thrive. Wheat can be grown in closer succession on the C. lands, than on any other description of land with the same expenditure of manure. A large stud of horses are required on C. lands, to enable the farmers to prepare the land for the various crops, at the moment when the season suits. A small portion of the land is still usually summer-fallowed, as it is found that it cannot be kept thoroughly clean by green crops in rainy seasons.