cultivation; and by degrees colonize, and improve the lands that lie nearest at hand; and afterwards the more remote; till at length the waste lands presenting sufficient encouragement to persons disposed to cultivate and fertilize the soil, many would naturally remove thither, in order to settle thereon, and establish their families by the fruits of their industry. And should even the waste-lands by unwearied perseverance, and well-directed labour, be converted from seemingly barren ground into portions of arable land, or pasture-ranges; and of consequence, the cultivators increase in population, so as actually to be too numerous for the limits of their possessions; then indeed, a distant region of the earth may, as a last shift, be resorted to, when allurements are in prospect which in the enjoyment shall make ample amends for the great sacrifice once made, of leaving the mothercountry, endeared to individuals by those inexplicable feelings which bind them to the spot of their nativity. But let us bring this view of the subject home to the present question, and consider calmly the existing circumstances with regard to the improvement of waste-lands, as one of the great means of preventing emigration to America.

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It is well known that vast tracts of waste-land, highly susceptible of improvement, remain in a state of fitable sterility in many parts of South Britain and Ireland. Nay, within the confines of the Grampians, to say nothing of the Western Islands, there are stretches of moss-lands, or moor, which, if duly cultivated, would certainly yield corn, green crops, and pasture of the richest quality. For instance, large tracts of moor are to be found in Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross shires; witness

the Black-island, as it is called, in the latter county opposite Inverness; besides other immense tracts of wastelands in the western districts of Inverness-shire, Perthshire, and county of Argyle; in situations too, very favourable for the raising crops of hemp, a circumstance worthy of notice as it is alleged that the production of hemp exhausts the richer soils which yield food for man and domestic animals; of consequence, reclaimed wastes being so much added to the lands already cultivated, the gain is of a two-fold nature; for corn-bearing land is thus spared from being scourged by hemp-crops, and seemingly barren wilds are made to produce largely a raw commodity, for which immense sums are laid out by government, yearly, for the cordage and sail-cloth of our fleets. But the production of hemp, great as it may be, is not the only consideration within the range of this prospect. Every one knows that reclaimed moss-grounds yield luxuriant crops of corn, turnip, and potatoes, which might be alternated with hemp, or flax, were those products found upon fair trial to answer.

Instead, therefore, of suffering our oppressed Gael to emigrate to America, allure them by every possible encouragement to improve and colonize those vast tracts of waste-lands within the confines of the Grampians, Western Isles, and Orkneys: And should those wastes be duly cultivated and peopled, even beyond the most sanguine hope, are there not immense tracts of moor-land in the counties of Ayr, Dumfries, and Galloway, which might be colonized from the Grampians: And should even those waste lands be improved and peopled to the utmost extent; are there not abundance of waste-lands in

England and Wales highly susceptible of culture, to which our Gael might be invited, and become useful to themselves, and serviceable to a nation by the increase of their numbers, and diligence of each in some useful department of rural economy, or agricultural improvement.

It is a well known fact, that, though there are forty millions of acres under constant cultivation in Great Britain, yet the yearly produce of those are in truth inadequate to the ordinary supplies of the men and horses of our island. And it is well ascertained also, that there are no less than twenty-two millions three hundred and fifty thousand acres of waste-lands, which neither the spade nor the plough have ever touched, yet highly susceptible of improvement; but being thus suffered to remain in a state of unprofitable sterility, is a national reproach, and a disgrace to this age of agricultural speculation; more espe cially when it is considered with what success the culti vation of moss-ground has been attended; witness one singular instance, namely the moss of Kincardine, the property of George Drummond Home, Esq., some account of which I gave in my Tour in Scotland, printed in the year 1802. But having been led into some mistakes respecting the real state of improvements of that once dreary waste, I gladly embrace the present occasion of correcting the errors alluded to; and at the same time presenting the reader with an accurate statement of the population, live-stock, grounds cleared, &c. of said moss, which the proprietor himself has politely communicated, in answer to my queries respecting its improved state, transmitted to his brother-in-law, Henry Jardine, Esq, of the Ex

chequer, by whom it was forwarded to me on the 19th January 1804.

It is sufficiently well known, that the late Henry Home Lord Kames, was the original projector of colonizing and improving that part of his property on the Blair-Drummond estate, called the Kincardine moss. In the year 1767, a portion of that moss-ground was let in lease to one person, being the first tenant who boldly ventured on this bleak, inhospitable waste. In the year 1783, the present proprietor entered into possession of the estate in question, when there remained unoccupied about twothirds of the whole extent of the moss. And following up the steps of his illustrious predecessor, he adopted a more liberal and spirited plan of improvement; the consequence of which is, that one-third of the whole is at this moment reclaimed; and an example thus held out to the island at large, of what perseverance, and welldirected diligence may realize, under circumstances, in aspect, the most cheerless and fordidding. But, in order to satisfy the reader, I shall here quote the words of the communication, as the existing facts respecting the population and improvements will prove the best commentary on a plan, deemed, by some superficial observers, rather visionary; but which time and experience have shewn clearly, that they who viewed it thus at a distance, saw dimly through the hazy medium of prejudice; or with a squint, in which case, things invariably appear double, or distorted.

"The present state of population, ground cleared, &c. of the Kincardine moss, January 17th 1804.

"It need only be mentioned that, were the leases out, "every acre cleared would, at this moment, let currently "at from 40 to 50 shillings per acre. Meantime the "tenants are reaping the fruits of their industry, very "justly, by possessing the ground they have cleared, "at low rents, upon long leases, (i. e. 57 years) the "terms of which are mentioned in the Encyclopædia "Britannica."

What a striking instance of productive labour! on a spot, too, which not more than thirty-seven years ago was in a state of seemingly hopeless sterility! 720 souls maintained on the produce of five hundred acres of arable ground, besides furnishing subsistence to 159 cows and 60 horses, in an extent in whole of not more than fifteen hundred acres, including moss-grounds as yet untouched by the spade or the plough!

Would it not be worthy of a patriotic association, say of fifty or an hundred gentlemen of property, to follow a similar line of improvement and population, as that so happily realized on the moss-grounds of Kincardine? Nay, might not such an association, purchase, not only waste-lands, but also considerable tracts of pasture, for the purpose of introducing an improved system of store-farming, together with an establishment of woolen manufacture, which ought always to be conjoined with the rear