FIFESHIRE is one of the best cultivated counties in Scotland. Tho soil is of various kinds. In the most fertile districts it consists principally of a rich loam : in the poorer tracts it is mostly a wet clay, resting on a cold bed of till. A level tract of deep, rich, and very fertile loam extends from east to west along the whole southern side, varying in width from three miles to one mite from the shore of the Frith of Forth ; and there are in other parts very rich tracts of land. The extensive water boundary gives the county many excellent parts and small harbours, from which steam communication is kept up with Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, and other places. Most of the chief towns of the county will be shortlylinked together by railways. Coal and limestone of the best description are found in abundance in almost every part of the county south of the Eden ; but they are not found in the upper division, north of this river. The col lieries are numerous, and some are very em tensive, and employ a large number of hands. Limestone quarries are numerous in various parts of the southern district. Ironstone is plentifully obtained in several parts of the coal fields, especially near Dysart, and in the parish of Balgonie. Lead mines have been worked in the Lomond Hills. Freestone, whinstone, and many of the primitive rocks are abundantly met with. There are beds of rich marl, brick-clay, and peat. Gems are sometimes picked up in the beds of the rivers.
There are a few patches of natural wood in Fife. The plantations are numerous, and the timber in them, which is mostly aged and valuable, consists of ash, elm, beech, fir of different kinds, limes, chestnut, sycomore, and oak. Flax is grown to a considerable extent, and is used in the linen manufacture at Dun fermline and elsewhere. The county of Fife
has been long distinguished for the excellence of its breed of black cattle ; when fat, they bring a much higher price at Smithfield market than any other kind. The Fife cows are also of high repute in the dairy.
Small breweries and distilleries for the ma nufacture of malt liquor and malt spirits, flour mills and pot-barley mills, salt-works and coal works, tan-works and soap-works, and brick and tile works, are among the industrial establish ments of the county. But the linen manufacture is by far the largest; it occupies a great number of hands, who spin and weave flax into damasks, diapers, checks, ticks, coarse sheeting, and many other kinds of linen fabrics. There are fisheries of salmon, cod, turbot, haddock, &c., off the coasts. There are a good many trading vessels belonging to the county.
At Dunfermline fine linens are largely ma nufactured. At Kirkaldy an excellent harbour has been formed, from which about 50,000 tons are annually shipped, chiefly to places on the coast of Scotland. Corn, potatoes, sheep, and pigs also form large items of exportation to London and various other ports. There are several flax-mills, extensive manufactures of coarse linen fabrics, an iron-foundry, tan neries, ke.
The factory-statistics of Fifeshire in 7850 presented the following results :—There were 2 factories for spinning and weaving woollens, with 20 power-looms and 1480 spindles. There were 40 factories for spinning flax, having 52,344 spindles, 1353 horse power for moving machinery, and employing 3980 persons.' There were 3 factories for weaving flax, with 194 power-looms, and having 42-horse pffwer.