Waters. course, sometimes disappearing altogether by the steep ness of its banks, and again spreading its waters abroad into the plain. Below Paisley it is of such depth as to be of importance in navigation. It was, by direction of the magistrates of Paisley, surveyed by Mr Whiteworth in 1786. He reported, that by removing some rocks and shoals in the river, a depth of seven feet of water might be obtained in ordinary spring-tides; and as the channeł is but shallow under Inchinnan bridge, as it could not be easily or safely deepened there, and as at any rate vessels with standing masts could not pass under the arches, he proposed to avoid that part of the navigation by means of a navigable canal, which should leave the river a little above, and join it again below the bridge. The expence of the whole, including a drawbridge across the canal, was estimated at L. 1900. The plan being approved of, an act of parliament was obtained, empowering the magistrates and other trustees to carry on the work, and defray the expence by a tonnage of eightpence per ton upon all vessels navigating the Cart, with an exception in favour of those loaded with coal. The work was completed; but it was not successful to the degree that had been expected.

Black Cart.

The Black Cart rises out of castle Semple loch, in the parish of Lochwinnoch. It is a beautiful lake, extending to above 400 acres, in which there are abundance of pikes and eels; it also abounds with swans, geese, ducks, teals, bitterns, and other fowls which frequent standing waters. Its beauty is greatly increased by a considerable quantity of wood in its vicinity. As already mentioned, the Black Cart descends northward towards Inchinnan, but before arGrif. riving there, it meets the Grif. This last stream has its source in the elevated territory above Largs, which looks down upon the angle formed by the Frith of. Clyde. In turning from a westerly to a southern direction, it is compo

sed, like the others, of a great variety of small streams, and Waters.
at first flows rapidly, descending over several precipi-
ces, till it reach the low country at Fullwood, where it
meets the tide. Thereafter it glides slowly in a serpen-
tine course, uniting with the Black Cart at Moss Walk-
inshaw, and the White Cart at Inchinnan bridge; after
which it enters the Clyde a mile below Renfrew. At
the confluence of the Grif with the White Cart is the
bridge of Inchinnan, a fine building, consisting of ten
large arches. From about the centre of the bridge a large
arch is thrown over towards the highway that leads to
Paisley.

In this county the augmentation of lakes, considered as Lakes.
reservoirs of water for giving motion to machinery, has
been considered as an important object. Thus in the pa-
rish of Nielston, a flat piece of territory, through which a
streamlet flowed, being obtained in lease by the owners of
several bleachfields, they erected a breastwork of sixteen
feet in height. The springs above this being numerous, by
the aid of a level surface, a tract of a mile in length, and
half a mile in breadth, was overflowed; so that during the
greatest droughts of summer (which, however, are seldom
distressing in this quarter), by drawing the sluice three
inches, a powerful stream is obtained. There is a natu-
ral lake in the same neighbourhood, covering sixteen
acres of land, surrounded by extensive plantations of every
sort of forest trees, belonging to Mr Muir of Caldwell.
We have already mentioned castle Semple loch. In the
same parish of Lochwinnoch is Queenside loch, situated
in a high and wild part of the country. It extends over
a surface of about twenty-one acres. The principal use
which is made of it consists of employing it as a reservoir
for supplying occasionally some cotton mills. Indeed
wherever a stream of water is found, it is scarcely pos-
sible to travel far without finding it interrupted by cot-

ture.

commercial

cultural,

1

RENFREWSHIRE.

Agricul ton mills, or its banks occupied by bleachfields. With regard to the river Clyde, which forms a part of the boundary of the county, it will more naturally be brought into view when we come to treat of Lanarkshire. Rather Upon the agriculture of this county we shall not find it than agri- necessary to make many remarks, The country in general assumes a favourable appearance, in consequence of a crowded population, together with numerous enclosures, and the abundance of manure from towns in the vicinity, which can here be easily obtained. At the same time it is in vain in this quarter to inquire for farmers of great skill, ingenuity, and enterprise. The tardy mode of attaining to a competency, or to wealth, by the slow path of perseverance in the laborious pursuits of agriculture, is ill suited to the temper of men in this quarter of the country. Commerce and manufactures have here so frequently been pursued with success, and proved the source of great and sudden riches, that every mind is less or more occupied by them; and every restless, ambitious, or ingenious individual turns to them, as the path by which he may most readily attain to opulence. Agricul ture therefore is left in the hands of gentlemen, who wish to adorn, by enclosures and plantations, and a cultivated appearance, the lands around their mansion-houses; to merchants, who have erected villas upon small farms, upon a few acres which they have purchased for the purpose of erecting a villa, or place of temporary retreat for their families from the confinement of a city; or, lastly, the soil is left in the hands of those unambitious individuals who are contented, in the character of farmers, to occupy the station and the employment which their ancestors held in society.

Much grass. Although much of this county is well suited for being kept almost constantly under arable crops, by the aid of

ture.

the manure which can here be obtained, yet the demand AgriculFor the products of the dairy is so great, in consequence of the vicinity of trading and manufacturing towns, that an uncommonly large proportion of the soil is kept constantly in grass. Thus the cultivator here does that voluntarily which in other quarters of the country his landlord finds it necessary to compel him to do by anxious stipulations in his lease, that the land may not be utterly exhausted by corn crops. Here the farmers have no objection to the immense importations of grain which are continually taking place upon the Clyde; because they do not envy the inhabitants of less populous districts, who find no better employment for their lands than that of scourging them by endless crops of grain. One would imagine that the practice of this district ought of itself to decide the question concerning the propriety or impropriety of a free commerce of grain. The free importation of corn, by affording it at a cheap rate, augments population; and among an industrious people an extensive population augments the value of the soil in every point of view; it encourages the rearing upon it of the least exhausting and most valuable produce, which cannot be brought from a distance, and it increases the price of the land in case of a sale.

The lands here differ chiefly according to their vicinity to the Clyde, or, in the lower part of the county, according to their vicinity to the waters of Cart. They are in general well enclosed, and in good condition for supplying

the towns.

Potatoes usually form a part of every rota-Rotations. tion. The common one is: 1st, Oats from grass; 2d, Potatoes or barley dunged; 3d, Oats with five pounds of red clover and three firlots of rye-grass; 4th, Hay for two years; 5th and 6th, Pasture; the last covered with compost manure.

Agricul

ture.

In the parish of Eastwood, and part of the parish of the Abbey of Paisley, the lands are beautifully intersper sed with small rising hills, although the soil is generally of a thin clay. The continued demand for every commodity that grass can produce, induces the farmers to have about one-half only of the land in tillage; and that half seems to be ill managed. A common rotation consists of two crops of oats followed by one of barley, two of hay, and five of pasture. The upper district of the county includes the contiguous parishes of Mearns, Eaglesham, Neilston, Lochwinnoch, Kilbarchan, Erskine, and Kilmalcolm, all which have a striking similarity of soil, rotation of crops, &c. The farmers have seldom more than one-third in tillage; the remainder is kept in pasture for milk cows. Though the lands in these parishes seem peculiarly well adapted for sheep pasture, none of them are so well occupied, excepting some enclosures about gentlemens seats, and some parks in the parish of Nielston, the property of Mr Speirs of Elderslee. The parish of Mearns is almost unequalled for numerous, beauti ful, grass knolls (small green hills). They make here large quantities of fine butter. Their cows are small, of a brown and white colour, chiefly from Airshire. Twelve of these small cows will yield for four or five months in summer one hundred and twenty Scotch pints of milk each day; which churned milk sells at one halfpenny per Scotch pint; and for the months in autumn their milk, though in the usual proportion diminished, increases in value by one farthing per pint, besides more and better butter; their butter being all made from milk they churn every day in summer, in autumn four times a-week. Their hand-churn holds near two hundred pints, which they only half fill to give air. The staff, having three wings, turns with a handle like like corn fanners. When they