So long as this practice continues, there can be lit tle encouragement to intelligent farmers to embark in an undertaking, in the course of which they must of ten be constrained to act in opposition to their owls judgment. There is no scope left to the exertion of ingenuity, and the most obvious improvements are interdicted by an authority equally arbitrary and in judicious. It is absolutely impracticable to devise a mode of cultivation which will be applicable to every variety of soil ; and we can scarcely conceive any sys tem less adapted than this to the clayey soils, which cannot be meliorated without frequent renovation by the plough.
The improvements in agriculture are consequently found to be much fewer than might have been expect ed, if a more liberal system had-been pursued by the landed proprietors. The land is neither sufficiently drained nor cleaned. Many of the antient clumsy practices are still in use. Four horses may be seen dragging an old fashioned plough ; or more frequent ly three horses, with a driver. We have, in several instances, (as lately as April 1810,) witnessed the phenomenon of a plough drawn by two horses, and managed by two men, one holding and another dri ving. We will not venture to divine what can be the pretence for employing these supernumeraries. On 'many of the lands, the ridges are still high, broad, and crooked, and the furrows filled with a profusion of rushes. In the neighbourhood of some of the po pulous towns a better system prevails. The most approved alternate husbandry has been partially in troduced, and the lands are let at high rents. Small inclosures sometimes draw from XS to RIO per acre. The more general rent for arable farms in favour able situations, is at the rate of X2 or E3 per acre. The great abundance of lime is an advantage which is possessed by this county more than almost any other.
Considerable attention has been bestowed on the rearing 01 cattle. In Carrick, the Galloway breed has long been esteemed the best for fattening easily, and the beef is allowed to be superior to that of most other species. In Cunningham and Kyle, the Dunlop breed is preferred, as yielding the best milk. The cheese called Dunlop, originally intro duced in the parish of that name, is in great repute, and bears a high price throughout all Scotland. The
hills in Carrick, and part of Kyle, afford excellent sheep pasture ; and great pains have been taken to improve the breed. In ancient times the sheep of Carrick were celebrated for the fineness and whiteness of their wool. The cultivation indeed appears to have been better formerly than of late. Ayrshire, three centu ries ago, was one of the few counties that produced wheat and whisky.
We cannot bestow great praise on the mode in which the land is inclosed and subdivided. With re gard to planting, though much has been done, we have already expressed our regret, that there should be such a predilection in favour of the Scotch fir, a spe cies of wood neither pleasing nor profitable, the pre dominance of which tends to deform many fine tracts of country, which it was intended to beautify as well as to shelter. We may here observe also, that the roads in general are by no means good : they are too narrow, and often carried along the very worst lines ; but what is still more inexcusable is, that, though the materials are every where found in great plenty, the roads are kept in very bad repair.
The most important minerals found in Ayrshire, arc, 1. Coal, which abounds in almost every parish, and which is wrought in vast quantities in the vicinity of all the towns, especially near the coast. The quantity exported exceeds 100,000 tons annually. 2. Limestone and marl also abound,—the former, how ever, in the greatest number of places. A consider able quantity is likewise brought as ballast from Ire land. 3. Iron-stone is found in different parts of Carrick, and in the higher parts of Kyle towards the source of the Ayr. At Glenbuck, more than 2000 tons of pig iron are made annually ; and a much great er quantity at Muirkirk. 4. Free-stone is also found in many places throughout the county. 5. Lead has been discovered in considerable quantity, and mines were opened several years ago in the parish of Ncw Cumnock. The other minerals are copper ores, plumbago, barytes, crystals of zeolite, gypsum, agates, and what is called water of Ayr stone, which is in high estimation among cutlers.
The principal towns in Ayrshire, are the boroughs of Ayr and Irvine,—Kilmarnock, Saltcoats, Stewart on, Catrinc, Mauchlinc, Muirkirk, Maybole, Girvan, teith, Kilwinning, Ballantrae, &c.