The following Report relating to Renfrewshire was drawn up at the desire of the Board of Agriculture

PREFACE.

THE following Report relating to Renfrewshire was drawn up at the desire of the Board of Agriculture. Though that small district affords no extensive field for agricultural inquiries, its progress in agriculture has, of late, been so considerable, as to render it, even on that account, an object of importance; while its various manufactures and the extensive commerce carried on from its ports, give it, in these respects, the first rank among the counties of Scotland. It has therefore been thought that it would be gratifying to the public, and might be of general utility, to give some detail, not only of the facts and circumstances which respect the agriculture of this district, but of the rise and progress of its manufactures,—the gradual advance and present state of its commerce,—the influence of these on the population of the county and condition of the farmer,—their consequences with respect to the number and circumstances of the poor,—and the degree in which they contribute to the national-revenue. These are objects of such acknowledged importance, and accurate information concerning them is so necessary in order to form a just estimate of the present state of Renfrewshire, and of the intelligence, the enterprize and the industry, which so honourably characterize its inhabitants, that the author would have thought he had neglected an important part of what might be expected in a work of this nature, if he had not entered more minutely into these subjects than has been done in the Reports from other counties. The information he has been able to communicate respecting them, he flatters himself, will be found curious and interesting in itself, and intimately connected with every discussion concerning the agriculture and internal improvement of this part of the kingdom.

With respect to his sources of information, he begs leave to mention, that, his constant residence in Renfrewshire, and the habits and occupations of above thirty years have given him a pretty intimate knowledge of most of the subjects discussed in the following Report He must add, however, that his own experience and observation would have gone but a short way in compiling it: he corresponded therefore with many intelligent friends, who, he knew, were well qualified to furnish him with the information which he desired, and who were at much pains in answering every inquiry which he thought necessary to make in order to render this work as accurate and useful as possible. The authentic sources from which he has thus derived his materials, enable him to give the public, what, he trusts, will be found, a faithful and satisfactory account of the shire of Renfrew. To the ministers of the several parishes;—to many gentlemen engaged in commerce and manufactures;—to the magistrates of towns;—and to gentlemen in public offices, he is indebted for much valuable information, communicated in a manner so liberal and obliging, that he shall ever reflect with pleasure on the correspondence he has held with them. To all of them he takes this opportunity of expressing his obligations, and his most grateful sense of their partial kindness. With pleasure he acknowledges the assistance he has derived from the Statistical account of Scotland. Many occasional quotations from it, and frequent references to it, will shew how highly he esteems that valuable work.

To render this Report more useful, it is accompanied with an accurate map of the county, exhibiting many minute particulars connected with the subject of the work. The public is also presented with a view of Inchinnan bridges: structures which do honour to the liberality and public spirit of the trustees upon that line of road, and to the taste and talents of the engineer who planned the works and by whom the execution of them was superintended. To the account which will be found of them in the following pages it may be here added, that some parts of the work were attended with such peculiar difficulty, that it was necessary to drive piles to the depth of forty feet below the bed of the rivers, in order to ensure a good foundation.

In the section relating to roads, bridges and ferries, written in 1811, the author has mentioned the effect of mail coaches, which are exempted from paying toll, in injuring turnpike roads and impairing the income for supporting them; and he has stated that this subject was then under the consideration of a committee of Parliament. In 1812 a bill was brought in for discontinuing the exemption; and the prospect that it would pass both Houses of Parliament, was considered as so certain, that, in the Appendix, the consequent augmentation of revenue from turnpike roads is taken into view. The recent unexpected failure of the bill renders it necessary here to observe, that the total annual amount of those revenues must be rated at least £1000 less than is there stated: for the yearly loss in Renfrewshire is above that sum, and far exceeds that of any other county in Scotland,

Hurlet, Renfrewshire,

20th July 1812.

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.

2.—Divisions and surface,

3.—Climate, prevailing winds, quantity of rain,

4.—Soil,

6.—Water, rivers, lakes,

CHAPTER II. STATE OF PROPERTY.
SECT. 1.—Estates and their management, Rental of the county, Proprietors classed according to their valued rents,

2.—Tenures, under the Prince of Wales, church lands, feu from a subject superior, burgage, entails,

2.—Farm houses, offices and repairs,

3.—Cottages,
CHAPTER IV. MODE OF OCCUPATION.
SECT. 1.—Size of farms & character of farmers,

2.—Rent, in money, in kind, in personal service,

3.—Tithes, Payable to the college of Glasgow, Ministers' stipends,

4.—Poor rates,

5.—Leases,

6.—Expense and profit,

2.—Fallowing,

3.—Rotation of crops,

4.—Crops commonly cultivated,

5.—Crops not commonly cultivated,
CHAPTER VIII. GRASS.
SECT. 1.—Natural meadows and pastures,

2.—Artificial grasses,

3.—Hay harvest,

4.—Feeding,

Division of commons and mosses, Run-rig,

2.—Paring and burning,

3.—Manuring,

4.—Weeding,

5.—Watering,

6.—Mosses,

7.—Embankments,
CHAPTER XIII. LIVE STOCK,
SECT. 1.—Cattle,

2.—Sheep,

3.—Horses,

4.—Hogs, poultry, &c.

2.—Provisions, Fiar prices of grain, Prices of other farm produce,

3.—Fuel
CHAPTER XV. POLITICAL ECONOMY, &c.
1. Roads, bridges and ferries

2. Canals

3.Fairs

4.—Weekly markets,

6.—Commerce,

7.—Manufactures,

8.—Poor,

9.—Population,
CHAPTER XVI. OBSTACLES TO IMPROVEMENT, AND REMEDIES,
CHAPTER XVII. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
SECT. 1.—Agricultural Societies,

2.—Provincial terms,

2. Salaries, &c. of Schoolmasters,

3.—Population of the counties of Scotland,

Noblemen, Freeholders, Commissioners of Supply and Justices of Peace, Note relating to heritable jurisdictions,

THE READER REQUESTED TO MALI TILE FOLLOWING CORRECTIONS Os ALTERATIONS, AND TO SUPPLY THE FOLLOWING DEFECTS.

Page 13, line 9, for gravely, read gravel.

- 20, - 18, for landstone, read sandstone.

28, - 12, for alkaline, read alkali.

- SS, - 8, for from 70 to ISO, read from 50 to 139. 36, - 10, before acres, insert Scots.

- 40, - 21, omit of entaiL

- 67, - 29, SO, omit wrought harder.

- 71, - 12,-14, the sentence should run thus; There is one in. stance at Greenock of four acres of garden ground now affording a yearly rent of £107, and one acre and a quarter are let at £50 per acre.

..--. 107, - 7, for rata-huge, read ruts-baga.

- 130, - 11, for furface, read surface.

- 131, - 5, for augur, read auger.

- 137, head line, for MANURING, read WEEDING.

- 175, - for PROVISIONS, &C. read RUILL.

191, line 29, for ounce, read pound.

- 201, - 5, for bushel, read quarter.

279, - 9,-12, foot notes, the sentence should run thus; the snip. phat of soda and barytes have recently occurred) omitting the remainder of that paragraph.

-- 306, - 6, in the table, for 48, read 84.

s20, 4, in the taitle, fer 40, read 4.

AGRICULTURAL SURVEY

OF

RENFREWSHIRE

.