In 1813 the Border Agricultural Society was formed, which have a spring and autumn meeting in Kelso, for the exhibition of stock and machinery, and for the dis tribution of various prizes. It has been conducted with remarkable spirit and success. In 1820, this society formed a junction with another institution of the same kind, whose meetings were held at Coldstream and Cornhill, and which was called the " Tweedside Agri cultural Society." The name of the association after the junction was the Union Agricultural Society," whose meetings are now held two years in succession at Kelso, and one year at Coldstream or Cornhill. Re gular cattle markets under its auspices, have been es tablished at Kelso and Coldstream during part of the winter and spring months; and these have tended both to improve the stock, and to add to the profits of breed ers. Distinguished amateurs in the higher ranks fre quently attend the exhibitions of the society; and the show of home-reared cattle, especially of the short horned breed, excites admiration'both for number and excellence. The small hook, sometimes with a smooth, sometimes with a serrated edge, still continues to be the general instrument for reaping over all this part of the country. The common long scythe is only very partially employed.
\Veckly markets for the sale of grain, are regularly held in Kelso, Jedburgh, and Hawick, in which places corn is sold by sample on short credit. The Kelso market is by far the most numerously frequented, and is generally attended by corn dealers from the port of Berwick, who purchase for exportation to London, &c. Most of the grain produced in this fruitful dis trict is delivered at Berwick, though a considerable proportion is conveyed to Dalkeith by land carriage, where it is always sold in bulk, and paid in ready money. One advantage of this distant conveyance is, that the superior coal and lime of Mid-Lothian are brought home in the carts. In particular seasons, some portion of the corn sold in Kelso market, which includes a considerable part of the produce of Ber wickshire and Northumberland, is sent to the interior of the county westward for consumption.
There are various fairs held periodically in the county, the greatest of which is that of St. Boswell's; on the 18th of July, on an extensive plain near the Tweed, for lambs, sheep. black cattle, horses, linen, and woollen cloth. The price of wool, with the staplers who come from Yorkshire, and other parts in the south, is generally fixed here, as well as at Yetholm and the Rink fair, near Jedburgh. St. James's fair is held on the fifth of August, on the green of ancient Roxburgh, now a part of the farm of Friars, opposite to Kelso. A great deal of linen and woollen cloth is here disposed of; numerous horses and cattle are ex posed to sale; and bargains are made between farmers and labourers, either from the neighbourhood, or from the Scotch Highlands and Ireland for harvest work.
Considering the distance of most of the inhabitants of this extensive county from fuel and markets, it is not surprising that different projects have been con certed for diminishing this inconvenience. A plan was
formed above thirty years ago for making the Tweed navigable from Kelso to Berwick. But besides the objections to this measure on the part of the proprie tors of the valuable fisheries near the mouth of the Tweed, the rapid inundations to which it is sometimes liable, were thought such as to render the measure in expedient, if not impracticable. In the year 1811 an act of parliament was obtained for carrying a rail-road from Kelso to Tweedmouth, chiefly through the exer tions of Hugh Scott, Esq. of Harden. Its estimated expense was about £100,000, of which more than one half had been subscribed in shares of £100 before the act was passed. Various unforeseen obstacles have since prevented the accomplishment of the measure. But in 1824, when speculations of every kind were so much afloat, from the overflow of unemployed ca pital, the subscription list was more than filled up, and plans and estimates were ordered. A new survey of the ground has been made during the present season (1825,) and it is expected that early in the next spring the work will be commenced. A liberal subscription has also been recently opened for extending the line of rail-way from Kelso to 'Melrose, and thence to And Lothian. But we acknowledge that we see no pros pect of the extended line being speedily accomplished.
Poor rates have been long established in this border county. Dr. Douglas states the number of paupers in 1796 maintained constantly by assessment to have been 979, and the amount of the assessment £2776. This of course excludes weekly collections at the church doors, &c. It affords at an average the small annual allowance of about £2, 17 s. to each pauper in the list. According to the supplementary report of the commit tee of the General Assembly in 182,0, on the manage ment of the poor in Scotland, the average annual amount of the assessment during the ten preceding years, was about £5917. In this estimate is not in cluded the small proportion of assessment levied on those four parishes which lie partly or chiefly in ad joining counties. The number of persons sent from England under the select vestry act of 1819, which au thorises a magistrate to send vagrants to Scotland, natives of that country, who may have been in England half a century more or less, but who have not acquir ed what is called a settlement there, has been very severely felt. See the article KELSO. We have reason to believe that poor rates have fallen considerably in this county since the above report of the General As sembly's committee was made. One great cause of poverty through the land, is the excessive indul gence in spirituous liquors among the lower classes of Society. Some correction of this evil is loudly called for, especially when the diminished duty on home made spirits, and the qualified permission of their passing to and from England from the 10th of January next, will afford new facilities and temptations to this ruinous practice.