AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE CONTINENT OF ARGYLE. CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL STATE AND CIRCUMSTANCES. SECT. I.-Situation and Extent. THE continental part of Argyleshire (exclufive of the islands belonging to that county) is fituated between 55° 21′ and 57° N. latitude, and between 1° 22′ and 3° 25′ of longitude, W. of Edinburgh*. Its general form approaches fomewhat to that of a triangle; of which a line running from the point of Ardnamurchan, along the borders of Invernessfhire, to the fource of the water of Urchy, at Moni-ranoch, may be confidered as the base; and another line running from thence to the head of Lochlong and along the Frith of Clyde, as forming one of the fides; and the Atlantic Ocean the other, Its greatest length, from the Mull of Kintyre to the point of Ardnamur The county, including the islands, extends to 57° 15′ N. latitude, and to 4° 9′ W. longitude. But as the iflands make no part of the province affigned to the writer, any account he may give of them occafionally, as a part of the County, will of courfe be more general than that given of the continent. A chan (1° 39', at the rate of 69% ftatute miles to the degree of lat.) is 115 miles; and its greatest breadth, reckoning 33 miles to the degree of longitude (which corresponds to the medium lat. of 56°) is above 68 miles. On the two fides, which border on the sea, the land is everywhere indented with deep bays and creeks, winding in a variety of directions, fo as to form the whole county into a number of peninfulas, and to afford a variety of fafe harbours. Some of thefe bays run fo far into the country, that only one of 27 parishes is altogether inland. The extent of fea fhore which bounds the continent of Argyle, from the head of Lochlong round to the point of Ardnamurchan, is fuppofed to exceed 600 miles. By this advantageous dispofition, the county has all the advantages of an infular fituation, without any of its inconveniencies. As there is no particular map of the county, its dimenfions cannot be exactly afcertained. If we cut off the peninfula of Kintyre, which is 40 miles long, by 6 at a medium. breadth (making 260 fquare miles), the remaining continent, which is 75 miles in length, may be taken, it is thought, at the average breadth of 33 miles, which, added to Kintyre, will make the whole continent 2735 fquare miles. The islands connected with the county, are fuppofed to make about 1063 miles more; fo that the whole county, by this computation, will be 3800 fquare miles*. By a calculation which lately appeared in the public papers (and which was afcribed to Sir John Sinclair), Scotland is made to contain 26,369,695 English acres, or 41,202 statute fquare miles; and England 46,915,953 acres, or 73,306 See the Statistical Table, in C. XVII. A map of the county is expected foon from Mr. Langlands, land-furveyor to the Duke of Argyle; by which its exact dimenfions will be better known. In the mean time, the writer thought it better to hazard the above conjecture, than to be altogether filent upon the fubject. fquare miles; fo that, by the above computation, Argyleshire is about 1-11th of Scotland, and about 1-30th of Great Britain *. This extensive county conftituted nearly the whole of the Scottish kingdom, from the reign of Fergus, the fon of Erc, till the Picts were fubdued by Kenneth MacAlpine; i. e. from the year 503 to the year 843; and is the only part of the kingdom in which the Aboriginal Scots (or Albanich) always retained a footing, and preferved a feed to the nation. t SECT. II.-Divifions. THE Continent of Argyle, which confifts of 25 parishes (including the islands connected with fome of them), and a part of two more, connected alfo with Invernefsfhire, is divided, in the county books, into the districts of Kintyre, Cowal, Argyle, and Lorn; except the parish of Morven, Ardnamurchan, and part of Kilmalie, which lie in the diftrict of Mull. Suppofing the whole to contain 2735 fquare miles, or 1,367,500 Scotch acres †, it is computed, that of thefe 1,213,500 acres may be heath, hill, and pasture; 30,000 do. wood; 24,000 do. fresh water lakes, and rivers. * According to Templeman's Survey, Argyleshire is only 2492, Scotland 27,794, and England 49,450 geographical fquare miles. This calculation makes them all about a third lefs than the above, and nearly in the fame proportion to each other. But as Dr. Grew (Philof. Trans. Abridg. IV. 449.) feems to have geometrically demonftrated, that England contains 46,080,000 statute acres, which nearly coincides with Sir John's account, there is reason to believe, that the statements in the text are not far from the truth; and that Templeman's calculation, after making the proper allowance for the difference between geographical and statute miles, is by far too low. The Scotch acre contains 6150 fquare yards, the English acre 4840; fo The proportion of the arable to the other grounds, as ftated above, is nearly as 1 to 12, being about a 13th of the whole. To an eye that takes but a fuperficial view of the face of the country, this proportion of arable will appear to be too great: But the eye is very apt to be deceived in judging of the proportion between hills and plains. To make a just comparison in this cafe, one muft form the idea of a plain extended through the base of the hill, and compare in his mind the extent of fuch a plain with that which he has in view. The furface of a mountain may meafure many times the extent of fuch a horizontal plain as it ftands upon, but cannot in fact contain more trees or piles of grass than would grow on fuch a plain, if indeed fo many *. The above proportion of arable to other lands cannot be supposed too high, when it is confidered that Kintyre, which, in point of extent, is little more to the reft of the continent than as I to 10, contains of itself above 29,000 acres of arable land, computing the smaller part, that has not been furveyed, at the fame rate with that which was actually measured. The proportion of arable over all will not appear to be too highly rated, when it is confidered that this is more than a fourth part of it. How much of our wafte grounds may be capable of being improved by tillage, planting, and watering, that the proportion between them is nearly as 5 to 4. In a ftatute square mile there are 500 Scotch, or 640 English acres. The Scotch Gunter chain is 24 4-5th yards in Ength, and confits of 100 links, each 8.928 inches. Ten chains in length, and one in breadth make an acrę. * In measuring iteep or hanging grounds, fo many links should be fubtracted from every chain, according to the several degrees of declivity, in or der to convert the hypothenuse into a base, and come at the true measure ment; at the following rates: will fall to be confidered, under these different heads, afterwards. SECT. III.-Climate. THE climate of the lower and more fouthern parts of this county differs greatly from that of the higher and more. northern parts of it. The lower parts are everywhere fo much furrounded and indented by the fea, that the atmosphere is mild and temperate *. Froft feldom continues long, and fnow lies rarely above two or three days at a time upon the fea-coaft. But the upper and northern parts, elevated far above the level of the fea, and bordering on the Grampian Hills, are fubject to a feverer atmosphere. These lofty mountains are generally covered with snow for a great part of winter, by which the air is chilled to a confiderable distance. The valleys, however, among these mountains are not, even in that inclement season, so cold or uncomfortable as might be fuppofed from the general afpect of the country. Moft of them are low and winding, and derive a great deal of shelter from the furrounding mountains. Most of them alfo look to the fouth or fouth-eaft; and as the wind blows for the greater part of the year from the weft and northweft, these high mountains, which generally ftand in that direction, serve as a fcreen to ward off its blafts. The climate, in different parts of the county, is no less different in respect of wet and dry. The clouds wafted from the Atlantic Ocean, and breaking on the tops of the higher mountains, occafion much more frequent rains in the upper than in the lower parts along the fea-coaft. Of these rains we are apt to complain, without confidering that our moun In Kintyre the froft is feldom fo intenfe as to fink the thermometer 8 degrees below Fahrenheit's freezing point. |