• numberless shallow depressions, which are surmount s ed by slender prominences, rarely swelling beyond the magnitude of hillocks, or knolls. Over this dull expanse the hand of art has spread some exquisite embellishments, which, in a great measure, atone for the native insipidity of the scene, but which might be still farther heightened by covering many of these spaces with additional woods, free from the dismal in termixture of Scotch fir, a tree which predominates infinitely too much all over the country, deforming what is and shedding a deeper gloom on what is already more than sufficiently cheerless.
Cunningham is said by Buchanan to be a word of Danish extraction, denoting a king's habitation ; and hence he infers, that the region was in possession of the Danes before it received this denomination. It is less fanciful to derive the name from the Saxon 'word, signifying a place where conies or rabbits bur row, an appellation which suits the district well, as its sandy downs abound with rabbit warrens to this day. This fertile tract of country is divided among a few great proprietors. It is decorated only by a small number of gentlemen's residences ; but it con tains several populous towns, and the harbours of Ir tine Saltcoats, and Ardrossan. With the exception of Largs, which is circumscribed within a rocky frontier, so as to be insulated from the surrounding country, almost the whole of Cunningham declines gradually towards the sea, presenting on all sides a rich and extensive prospect, finely contrasted with the islands in the Firth of Clyde, the Cumbraes, Bute, Arran, and the distant mountains of Argyleshire. When it is skilfully cultivated, it will rank with the finest plains in the whole of Scotland.
Formerly the baronies of Cunningham and Largs svere under the jurisdiction of the borough of Irvine. The Earls of Cassilis were hereditary bailiffs of Car rick ; the Campbells of Loudon were hereditary bailiffs of Kyle ; and the Wallaces, lords of Craigie, were heritable stewards.
There are many lakes in this county, some of them extensive,but none very remarkable either for thebeau ty or the wildness of the scenery. The shore in ge neral is very flat, and kelp is found in various places ; but little attention has hitherto been paid to the ma nufacture of this valuable substance.
With respect to the climate, it is observable that there is much more rain in general or. the western than On the eastern coast of Scotland, and particularly in the autumnal and winter months. In the spring,
however, the west has the advantage. The easterly winds are not by any means so hurtful to vegetation, or so intolerably chilly in that part of the island, as they are in the vicinity of the German Ocean ; and the un comfortable fogs, which prevail so frequently on the Firth of Forth, are comparatively little known in Ayrshire.
There is considerable diversity of soil in this coun ty. Near the shore it is for the most part sandy, but in many places intermixed with a rich loam. In other places gravelly soils prevail ; but not to a very great extent. A large proportion of the soil is a stiff deep clay, which produces very abundant crops, when carefully managed. In some situations, the clay is merely superficial, lying over a substratum of . • schistus or till. Towards the east, where the grounds are highest, there is a great predominance of fen and peat-moss.
Till of late years the state of agriculture in Ayr shire is described as having been barbarous in the ex treme. A most deplorable picture is drawn by Col. Fullarton of the wretchedness, ignorance, and apathy, in which the farmers were sunk till the middle of the last century ; and it appears that it required no ordi nary efforts to emancipate them from the degrada tion to which they had long been doomed, not by the rigour of their superiors, but by their own pre judices. We lament to state, that the means which e r e thought necessary to rouse them from their tor por, have tended to retard rather than to accelerat,e the progress of good husbandry. With a view to enforce the observance of an improved system, Mr Fairly of Fairly recommended a plan, which has been almost universally adopted, of grantingleases with the most rigid restrictive articles, prescribing a parti cular course of operations to be followed in the ma nagement of every farm, under the penalty of heavy additional rents to be imposed fur every deviation however slight. According to his scheme, every farm is divided into three parts, and the tenant is bound not to plough more than a third in any one year, and not to plough the same land more than three years successively. The series of crops is also specified. By these regulations, all the land must rest six years in grass before it can be ploughed a second time. In some places only a fourth of the land is permitted to be in tillage at a time, and only two successive crops are allowed to be taken. The leases are generally granted for 15 or 18 years.