|
Consequences of this change
on population, through the
prevalence of pasturage, sheep-farming, and engrossing of farms.
IN one very important circumstance, the ancient state
of the Highlands differed remarkably from the rest of the kingdom,— every
spot was occupied by nearly as many families as the produce of the land
could subsist.
In other parts, and indeed
in every civilized country where landed estates are on a large scale, we
find no more people upon a farm than are reckoned necessary: for carrying
on the work that must be done upon it. This is the natural result of the
operation of private interest. The proprietor lets his land to the tenant
who will give him the highest rent for it; and the tenant manages it in
the manner that he expects will produce him the most profit. For this
purpose, he must raise as much produce, but with as little expense, as
possible: to avoid expense, he must employ no unnecessary hands; must feed
no superfluous mouths. The less of the produce is consumed upon the farm,
the more he can carry to market.
From these causes, the
population in all those parts of the kingdom which are merely
agricultural, is reduced much below the proportion of people which the
country could feed; while particular spots that are favourable for
manufactures have accumulated a population greatly exceeding what the
produce of the immediate vicinity, could maintain. There the superabundant
produce of the agricultural districts finds a market; there any
superabundant population may expect to find employment.
Where there is no
employment but what arises directly from the cultivation of the land, the
country is more or less peopled according to the mode of cultivation. A
highly refined agriculture, that approaches to gardening, will employ a
considerable population, though not equal to that of a manufacturing
district. In the ordinary style of agricultural management, less labour
being bestowed on the land, fewer people will be required, and fewer will
find a maintenance. This will be still more the case where a great
proportion of the land is in grass; and even in countries entirely devoted
to pasture, a difference will be observed; as a dairy farm will require
more hands than the same land employed for mere grazing.
When we inquire therefore
what population may be maintained in any district, we have not merely to
ask what the country could produce, or how many inhabitants that produce
could maintain; the essential. point is, to know what employment it can
afford, and under what mode of management the land will be most profitable
to the occupier. To examine the Highlands of Scotland by this test, let us
consider what are the other parts of the kingdom to which it bears most
resemblance. If in any of the mountainous districts of England, we find a
considerable population collected in one spot, it's where a number of
hands are required for working mines, or where the abundance of coal has
led to the establishment of manufactures. In the Highlands there are few
mines, and these of little consequence: the Country is entirely destitute
of coals; and though the inhabitants have an opportunity
of supplying themselves with peat or turf from the mosses, yet this is by
a process so expensive and precarious in a rainy climate, that this fuel
is by no means a complete substitute for coals, and is of very inferior
value: The Highlands are therefore on a par with the mountains of
the South of Scotland, and those on the borders of the two kingdoms, with
a great part of Cumberland and Westmoreland, of North Wales, and some
other mountainous districts in England:—in all of these, the soil and
climate forbid the extension of tillage, while the scarcity of fuel has
discouraged manufacturing industry.
In such mountainous
regions, the most profitable employment of land is universally found to be
in rearing young cattle and sheep, which, at a proper age, are bought by
farmers in more fertile Countries; and fattened for the butcher. Few of
these mountains are entirely destitute of spots in which cultivation might
be practicable; but it is found more advantageous to keep them in grass,
as the numerous flocks which a range of mountains can feed in summer,
require some better pasture in sheltered situations for, a retreat in
winter. For these reasons, judicious farmers attempt little cultivation,
except in so far as it can be rendered subservient to the accommodation of
their flocks; and those who have tried more have been obliged to
acknowledge, that the expense of labour, combined with. the loss of their
winter pastures, has overbalanced any profit arising from their crops.
These reasons have still
more force in the Highlands, where the climate is more adverse to the
production of grain, and renders a reserve of winter pastures still more
indispensable. From the prevalence therefore of the same circumstances, it
must be expected that the lands will fall into the same general style of
management; and that in the Highlands, as in the Cheviots or in Tweeddale,
a few shepherds, with their dogs, will, be found sufficient for all the
profitable work of an extensive range of land.
Ever since the
introduction of sheep-farming into the Highlands, there has been a very
unequal struggle between the former possessors of the lands, and the
graziers. It would be difficult, perhaps, to quote an instance where the
old tenantry have been able to offer a rent fully equal to that which
their competitors would have given. In many instances, indeed, the fear of
such competition has induced them to stretch their utmost nerve, and to
make offers, which left from the produce of the land a bare subsistence
for themselves. The indulgence of the landlords has often induced them to
prefer these offers, when they could certainly have procured higher; and
in these cases, the tenants have, perhaps, found their situation better
than they had just reason to expect. The great and
continual rise that has taken place in the value of every species of
produce, and of none more than grazing cattle, has enabled them to pay
their rent with tolerable ease,
and even to accumulate some savings, though in no proportion to the
profits of the sheep-farmers, during the same period.
That this new system,
however, is adapted to the natural circumstances of the Highlands, is
sufficiently proved by its rapid and continual progress; nor can it be
doubted that, from the same causes, it must ultimately prevail throughout
all the mountainous parts.
On the first introduction
of sheep-farming, it was confined to a few adventurous individuals, who
being accustomed to it in the South of Scotland, had penetration to
observe the vast field which was open to them, and firmness to persevere,
notwithstanding the multiplied obstacles which opposed them. Having a
great extent of country in their choice, they selected only such farms as
were peculiarly adapted to their purpose, and such as they could bargain
for at a rent extremely low in proportion to their real value. During all
this period, therefore, the old occupiers
had to contend with a competition, partial, and comparatively feeble. The
case is now altered, and the graziers are so multiplied as to enter into
competition with one another, and to give a rent as fully proportionate to
the value of the land as in the rest of the kingdom.
The first sheep farmers,
like all who introduce new and successful modes of agriculture, reaped
great profits, extended their capital, and have naturally been induced to
employ it all in the same manner. Their success has also attracted others
from the South of Scotland. The more sagacious of the inhabitants of the
country itself saw the benefits they might derive from a similar mode of
management. The small proprietors of land were among the first to imitate
it; and some of them have taken the whole, or the greater part of their
estate into their own possession. Many of the tacksmen have also discarded
their superfluous cotters and subtenants, and imitate the active industry
of the strangers,
The success that has
hitherto invariably attended the practice, has been an inducement to all
those in the Highlands, who can command any considerable capital, to
engage in the same business; and the remarkable rise that has taken place
in the value of produce within the last few years, has led them to offer
rents, which are considered by the best judges as the utmost, if not
beyond what the average rate of prices will enable the farmer to pay.
Hence the competition with which the old occupiers have to contend, has
risen to a pitch which they cannot possibly resist; and the conclusion is
inevitable, that, as fast as the current leases expire, the whole or
nearly the whole of this body of men will be dispossessed.
The cotters are scarcely
more likely to hold their place; because, though a few may be requisite,
yet the number usually employed on any farm under the old system, was in
comparably greater than a grazier has occasion for. The rents that are now
to be paid, will not allow the occupier to submit to any unnecessary
expense: the families to be maintained on the ground must, for his own
interest, be reduced to the small number who are sufficient for the
tending of his flocks.
The tract of country known
by the general name of Highlands, is not every where mountainous; and
there are situations where in all probability, sheep-farming will not
prevail. In some parts the country consists of low hills, more adapted for
pasturing black cattle than sheep; in others, there is a great proportion
of arabic land; but the climate is generally a discouragement to tillage,
even where the soil and situation. oppose no obstacles. —The Western Coast
and Isles are subject to such excessive rains, that a crop of grain can
scarcely be secured without damage, or at least not without great expense,
difficulty, and uncertainty. Under these circumstances, the farmer will
certainly find it for his advantage to keep the greatest part of his
arabic land in pasture: and, though the tending of cattle may require
rather more labour than that of sheep, a grazing of any kind, when managed
with economy, can afford employment to very few people in comparison with
the numbers hitherto maintained under the old system of the Highlands.
The same general principle
is applicable even to the districts where agriculture can be carried on to
advantage: in no part will cultivation require all the people whom the
produce of the land can support. Where farms are very small, the
proprietors will, in every situation, find it for their interest to throw
several into the hands of one man. The occupier of a minute portion of
land, who, without any other source of profit, can raise little
more produce than enough for his own consumption, has no means of paying
an adequate rent. One man constantly employed might accomplish all the
work of cultivating several of these small possessions. When they are
thrown together, the farmer is enabled, merely by diminishing the number
of superfluous mouths, to send a part of the produce to market; and from
the same land, without any addition to its fertility, to afford a better
rent to the landlord.
The further enlargement of
farms throws them into the hands of men of education and efficient
capital, who, by following improved modes of cultivation, increase the
productiveness of the soil: thus, according to the observation of Dr. Adam
Smith, "the diminunation of cottagers, and other small occupiers of land,
has, in, every part of Europe been the immediate forerunner of improvement
and better cultivation." This the Highland proprietors have already begun
to experience; and a tendency towards the accumulation of farms, is very
observable in the agricultural districts, as well as in those devoted to
pasturage.
Hence a number of small
occupiers of land must be dispossessed. Where large farms are already’
established, many of the people, who were thought necessary in the feudal
times, and have since been suffered to remain on the land, will, under any
system of cultivation, be found superfluous as workmen, and dismissed. All
of these have been hitherto enabled to live by possessing land at a rent
below its value: directly or indirectly they are a burden on the
proprietors; and unless some new and profitable employment can be devised
for them, they must continue to be a burthen as long as they remain in the
country.
To this the proprietors
certainly will not long submit; and therefore a great part of the present
inhabitants of’ the Highlands must in one way or another seek for means of
livelihood totally different from those on which they have hitherto
depended.
Though there has been a
continual progress towards this state of things, it has never till now
taken place to its full extent. The new modes of management have reached
their full maturity in but a small proportion of the Highlands. From those
parts where they are of more recent introduction, emigrations have taken
place on former occasions, but not to such an extent, as to produce a
sensible diminution of the inhabitants. Thus the change of system has yet
to produce its entire and unimpaired effect in a country still teeming
with the superabundant population accumulated by the genius of the feudal
times. |
