The following Report relating to Renfrewshire was drawn up at the desire of the Board of Agriculture
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CHAPTER XII.IMPROVEMENTS.SECTION I.—DRAINING. SOME attention is paid to draining; and in general it would be of great advantage to the county that much more pains and expense were bestowed on this important object. The kinds of drains are, commonly, either narrow open-casts; or narrow casts, about 2 feet deep, filled with small stones. Sometimes, in soft land, they are made about 3 feet in depth, 2½ feet in breadth, sloping to one foot at bottom; they are kept open by thin stones leaning on one another, and are covered with smaller stones, till within a foot of the surface; when the whole is laid over with straw and earth. A kind of drain is executed on the flat carse grounds, which is extremely useful. Open drains, called sloped gaws, are cut, at right angles to the ridges, from the middle of the field to one or both sides of the inclosure. The width of these sloped gaws, or drains, is from 12 to 24 feet, as the declivity requires. These are sometimes adopted when the field is in grass, but more frequently when in summer fallow. The earth taken from these sloping drains, is either made into compost dunghills, or thrown into the hollow parts of the field. The detail of Mr Elkington's method of draining is given in several agricultural reports. It consists chiefly in making holes with a boring auger, so as to tap the springs and let out as much water as possible into ditches or trenches previously formed, for carrying off the springs which may issue in consequence of this operation. Since his method was made public, the plan has been pursued in this county, particularly at Caldwell, with perfect success. The most extensive drainage in the county, for recovering lands exposed to floods or lying under water, was executed, about the year 1774, by Mr M'Dowall of Castlesemple, by deepening the Black-Cart, at an expense of near £3000. Forming that river into a deep canal for near two miles, the surface of the water in Castlesemple-loch was lowered, and considerable quantities of land were acquired along the edge of that lake, and at its western extremity. These consisted of lands called Barr and Peel meadows, extending to 250 acres of soft spungy soil, abounding with aquatic plants, and producing very coarse hay of little value. Improvements are now projected so as to obtain the full benefit of this drainage; first, by conveying the water which falls on the adjoining lands into proper channels, and thus preventing it from overspreading the flat surface of those meadows; and next by the formation of embankments; so that it is hoped those meadows may soon be rendered fit for cultivation. SECTION II.—PARING AND BURNING. This is not practised in Renfrewshire. Burning the surface, indeed had recourse to in the mosses and moors. In the former case, this process is employed in order to destroy the moss, and reclaim the land, by mixing what ashes and moss may remain with the subsoil. In burning moors, the object is to encourage grass by destroying the heath. Both practices are rather pernicious than beneficial. SECTION III.—MANURING. The manures made use of are, lime and dung; no marle having been discovered in this county. Till of late, very little attention was paid to the making of compost dung hills. In the few instances where these composts have been applied as a dressing to grass, very beneficial effects have been experienced, both upon the pasture and the succeeding corn crops. Lime was sold in 1795 at 10s., and is now at 168., per chalder of 16 bolls; the boll containing front 4 to 5 Winchester bushels of slacked lime. The quantity applied is commonly 6, 7, or 8 chalders per acre; there are instances, however, of applying 10 chalders, which is, nearly, at the rate of 720 Winchester bushels. Considerable quantities are brought from Kilbride in Lanarkshire, for the south-east parts of the county; and from the parishes of Kilbirnie and Beith in Ayrshire, for the south-west parts; but the chief lime-works are in the parishes of Cathcart, Lochwinnoch and Paisley. In some of the best cultivated parts of the county, the farmers convey lime from the Earl of Glasgow's lime-works at Hurlet, to the distance of 10 or 12 miles; and some small quantities are occasionally carried into Dumbartonshire across the Clyde, by Renfrew ferry. A few farmers on the banks of that river, obtain lime by the great canal, from Campsie and Netherwood; and limestones are sometimes imported from the island of Arran and from quarries on the banks of the Crinan canal. We have already stated, that, from the lime-works within the county, there are sold annually about 12,000 chalders, some part of which is used for building, plaistering, &c. but by far the greatest part as manure, When the quantities of lime brought from other counties is taken into view, it is probable there is at least £12,000 worth of lime annually applied as manure, exclusive of the expense of carriage. The most common methods in this county of applying lime as a manure, are to spread it either on pasture grounds, from six to twelve months before breaking up; or upon summer fallow. In some instances, both in this county and in Dumbartonshire, it is applied to potatoes in considerable quantity, by sprinkling it out of carts on the potatoe drills, in the end of June or beginning of July, after the crop has made considerable progress. In the course of hoeing the field, the lime is incorporated or intimately mixed with the soil, producing always most beneficial effects. It is also very frequently applied to moss lands, as shall be afterwards noticed. Dung is used when summer fallow is attempted. Sometimes it is applied, and with success, to grass grounds, but more generally to barley and potatoe crops. The quantity used is about 40 carts per acre. The contents of the cart, within the edges, are from 30 to 36 cubic feet. Dung is collected at Paisley, Glasgow, Greenock, and Port-Glasgow. From the harbours of the two latter towns, a considerable quantity of manure is obtained, which is conveyed up the Clyde, both to the counties of Dumbarton and Renfrew. At Glasgow and Paisley, in 1795, the common price of dung, consisting of coal ashes and sweepings of streets, was from 1s. 4d. to 2s. per cart, heaped on the top, and drawn by one horse; but it is now from 4s. to 6s. per cart. The manure is not carted directly from the towns to the farms, but is laid down in heaps, in the neighbourhood of the town, whence it is conveyed to the country in smaller loads. The price at Glasgow is, generally, lower than at Paisley, of course it is brought from Glasgow to the distance of 6 or 7 miles; but it is very seldom conveyed from Paisley above 4 or 5 miles. Woollen-rags, soaper's-waste, soot and shavings of horn, are applied as manure, but not extensively. The first of these articles is purchased in Glasgow and Paisley, in small quantities, at about four guineas per ton, and about 15 cwt. is considered as perfectly sufficient for manuring a Scots acre. Soaper's-waste, consisting of a mixture of kelp and lime, at present sold at 8s. per ton, is very successfully used in forming composts, by mixing it with earth from ditches, sides of high-ways, and spots of vacant land. Much good manure might be collected at the numerous bleachfields in the county, by mixing, the lees and impurities which flow from the boilers, with coal ashes, straw, turf, peat, or any other substance that would absorb the moisture. For a few years, methods have been prosecuted at different farms, for preparing composts, and for increasing the quantity of dung, by the addition of moss earth, and certainly such plans might be followed with great advantage, both in the lowest and highest divisions of the county where mosses abound. Mr M‘Dowall, in a communication to the president of the board of agriculture, observes, that, "the heritors in the Glen of Lochwinnoch have, for a hundred years, mixed peat moss with dung, one half of each, and have found that the same quantity of this mixture produced an equally good effect with a similar quantity of dung." The mud raked and shoveled from the public roads, might, with great advantage, be used as a material for forming composts, particularly if mixed with lime, and applied to clay lands, but it is very seldom employed to that purpose, although it would certainly be more economical than dung from the great towns of this county. Although the line of sea coast in this county from Port-Glasgow to Kelly-bridge, on the boundary with Ayrshire, extends to 13 miles, yet the quantity of sea weed is so inconsiderable, that it is seldom collected and applied as a manure. SECTION IV.—WEEDING. The farmers pay attention to weeding, removing couch grass and thistles from their corns: their potatoe crops also are thoroughly cleaned, but no care is taken to exterminate weeds, or to prevent them from spreading. It is lamentable to notice thistles and other pernicious weeds accumulated on the sides of both public and private roads, and on the banks of ditches, ripening their seeds, and sowing themselves in the fields of careful and industrious farmers. Very slight attention would remedy this, and prevent the adjoining well cultivated lands from being infested with noxious weeds. Some of the prevailing weeds in meadows and grass lands are, crow-foot, or crow-toe, (ranunculus acris) ox-eye, or large white gowan, (chrysanthemum leucanthemum) and rag-wort, or bind-weed (senecio jacobea). No pains are bestowed in clearing the grass grounds either of these or of any other weeds. The last abounds in the richest and driest pastures; and is a well known indication of the goodness of the land. Sheep eat it while young, and, of course, where that kind of stock is fully introduced, this plant scarcely exists. In cases where the lands are not pastured with sheep, it might be pulled up by the root, or cut with a scythe before the seeds ripen, but the former method is preferable. The weeds which abound in corn fields, are; 1. thistles; 2. wild-mustard, or skillocks, (sinapis arvensis); 3. couch grass, or felt, (triticum repens); and 4. corn marigold, or gule, (chrysanthemum segetum). In weeding, the first of these is pulled out with the hand, or with a simple instrument, well known in this and all the neighbouring counties, called clips. The second abounds where the lands have been plentifully manured with dung from the great towns. The third is in some degree exterminated by fallowing and frequent harrowing; is gathered into heaps and burnt; or sometimes collected in quantity and the mass rotted, and formed into good compost. The fourth and last of these weeds, the corn marigold or gule, is most discernible when the crop is weak and scanty. Some leases, particularly on the estate of Duchal, contained clauses to keep the lands free of gule; but those obligations were seldom enforced by the proprietor. This appears to have been an object of attention at very early periods. In the rental book of the abbacy of Paisley, there are the following words in their acts and statutes: "He that fyles his mailen with gule, and cleans it not by Lammas, shall pay a merk without mercy, and afterward the land being found foul, that the goods shall be escheat." SECTION V.—WATERING. No fields in the county are artificially watered; many of them, however, are capable of that improvement. The fields in the neighbourhood of Auldhouse, in the parish of Eastwood; many acres lying along the banks of the Levern and Brock; and several fields in Houston parish, may be particularly mentioned as suited for this operation. The lands on the sides of the high grounds, by conveying, in proper directions, the little streams that issue from them, are also often capable of watering. In many parts, especially of the middle district, are to be found beautiful flat holms of small extent, the soil of which is of a mellow loamy nature, and of great fertility. These too often are treated in the same manner as the adjacent grounds, notwithstanding their different qualities. In several places they might be converted into perpetual hay meadows; and, as streams of water run frequently through them, and springs often burst out towards the bottom of the surrounding eminences, which, left to themselves, tend only to disfigure and destroy, artificial watering might, probably, be attempted with small difficulty, and with the prospect of improvement. At the same time it must be allowed, that, in a manufacturing county like this, where almost every rivulet is of importance to manufactures, any agricultural operations which might tend to injure the purity, or diminish the quantity, of water, would probably meet with opposition. SECTION VI.—MOSSES. To reclaim the many parts of this county which consist of deep moss, and particularly the mosses in the low and fertile district, extending to 1900 English acres, is an attempt of great importance. A method has been pursued, both here and in Ayrshire, upon similar lands, which has been productive of good effects. As it originated in Ayrshire, it will probably receive larger notice in the survey of that county, but it may here be shortly stated. The mossy land is first dug over, which costs generally from £2 to £3 per acre; then in summer, or in frosty weather, when it is so bound as to bear the tread of cattle, from 5 to 8 chalders of lime are sprinkled on the surface: oats are then sown, and hoed, or harrowed in with light wooden-toothed harrows, drawn by one or two men. This method is repeated for two, three, or four years, without any alteration, but the omission of the lime. By degrees the land consolidates, and, after being thrown into grass, produces an herbage where nothing grew before but heath. Great care and pains are also bestowed in laying the land dry by open-casts, drawn in such a manner as to carry off the stagnated water. Another scheme is, to apply both lime and dung, and to take a crop of potatoes and afterwards oats. The crop of potatoes is generally pretty good, and found to be an excellent preparation for the succeeding crops of oats. When both dung and lime are applied, the putrid fermentation is speedier; and its effects are apparent in the great abundance of the corn crops. The common method of reclaiming mosses in the county of Renfrew, and in many other parts of Scotland, has been, by digging away a great portion of the moss, and consuming it, as fuel, by the families in the neighbourhood. What remains is burnt, and gradually incorporated with the subsoil by repeated digging, manuring, cropping, &c. This method is, evidently, very tedious, and, compared with the scheme now pursued, must be accounted pernicious, especially if the subsoil is of bad quality. The progress of reclaiming mosses in Renfrewshire by burning, has, upon the whole, been very slow. Great advances have been made by Mr Fulton, proprietor of the estate of Lochliboside and Hartfield, in the parishes of Neilston and Paisley, in the high part of this county, in improving mosses according to the Ayrshire method, within these sixteen years; and very considerable portions of land, which were formerly rented at 1s. 3d. or 1s. 6d. per acre, are now let at 20s. and some parts at 30s. per acre. Five hundred acres of the moss and muir of Hartfield; formerly rented at £30, are now, in consequence of these improvements, let at £495: and out of 675 acres of very deep and soft moss, 450 acres have been reclaimed large portions of which, if the same judicious manner is persevered in, will continue to be susceptible of cultivation by the plough. The improvements on the mosses in the lowest district have been hitherto on a small scale. Nearly the whole of Paisley moss, however, which in 1793 contained 130 acres,[70] is now improved and well cultivated: and Mr Alexander of Southbar has lately built a few cottages in his mosses; and the fixed settlers will very soon make progress in extending good cultivation around their dwellings. SECTION VII.—EMBANKMENTS. There is not much land on the banks of the rivers of this county exposed to inundation, and therefore extensive embankments are not necessary. Some valuable land, called Long-haugh, belonging to Lord Blantyre, situated on the Clyde, opposite Dunglass castle, much exposed to the floods and tides of that river, was effectually defended in 1798, by an embankment which cost only £300, and is a lasting and beneficial improvement. A similar embankment has been proposed on the adjoining lands of Bishopton, where it is practicable to reclaim, at least, 100 acres from the river Clyde: but to do this effectually would require great expense, because the land is very low; and the force of the tides, at this part of the river, during westerly winds, very violent. The operations in improving the navigation of the river will facilitate this undertaking: for the natural tendency, and uniform effect of the jettees and parallel dykes, as already mentioned,[71] are to accumulate land and form embankments on the brink of the river. The lands called Barr and Peel meadows, in the parish of Lochwinnoch, already mentioned, extend to 250 acres, and embankments have been projected to defend these flat lands from inundation. The expense must necessarily be of great amount; but it is certainly practicable to embank them, and it would be a most important improvement. There are no other embankments in the county which require particular notice.
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