PERTHSHIRE

PERTHSHIRE, a county in Scotland, having the shire of Inverness and Aberdeen on the north; Angus or Forfar, Fife, and Kinross, on the east; Clackmannan and Stirling on the south; and Dunbarton and Argyle on the west; contains, according to the latest authorities, 2638 square miles, of which 50 are occupied by lakes; or, in all, 1,688,320 English acres; being, next to Inverness-shire, the largest county on the mainland of Scotland. It is situated between $56^\{\backslash circ\}\; 7\text{'}$ and $56^\{\backslash circ\}\; 35\text{'}$ north latitude, and between $3^\{\backslash circ\}\; 6\text{'}$ and $4^\{\backslash circ\}\; 47\text{'}$ west longitude, from Greenwich. Its greatest extent, from east to west, is about 77 miles, and from north to south 68. It was anciently, and is still, popularly divided into eight districts: Atholl on the north, Stormont on the north-east, Perth Proper and Gowrie on the east, Strathearn on the south, Monteith on the south-west, Breadalbane on the west, and Rannoch on the north-west. It is under the jurisdiction of one sheriff, who has substitutes in the towns of Perth and Dunblane, and is divided into seventy-nine parishes.

In a general view, this extensive county may be divided into Highlands and Lowlands; the former occupying a space so much greater than the latter, that not quite so much as a third part of the whole is fit for cultivation. This last portion is chiefly, though not without considerable exceptions, situated on the eastern and southern extremities, which contain some of the richest tracts in Britain; and in the great plain of Strathmore which has the Grampians on the north-west, and the Ochils and Sidlaw Hills on the east; varying in breadth from ten to fifteen miles, and extending through this and the contiguous counties, from sea to sea, a distance of 100 miles. To the west, where the Grampians, at first rising gently, rear their rocky or heath-covered summits to the height of 4000 feet, and for almost the whole breadth of the county, the high grounds are penetrated by straths and glens, some of them of considerable extent, each traversed by its own mountain streams, and diversified by numerous lakes, many of which, having their wild and lofty banks covered with natural wood, present scenes singularly romantic and beautiful. At least seven of these mountains are upwards of 3000 feet high: the three highest being Benlawers, on the west side of Loch Tay; Benmore, south-west; and Schehallion, north-east: the latter noted as the station chosen by Dr Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal, to make observations on the attraction of mountains. The most considerable lakes are—Loch Tay, almost in the centre of the Highland district, about fifteen miles long, and one broad, with a depth varying from fifteen to one hundred fathoms; Loch Erich, on the north-west, extending into Inverness-shire, still longer, but not so broad; Loch Rannoch, south-east of the former, twelve miles long; Loch Earn, south from Loch Tay; and Lochs Vennachar, Achray, and Katrine, on the south-west: the last of which, with the wild mountain scenery around it, called the Trosachs, has acquired deserved celebrity, from Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake. Most of the streams either have their source in these lochs, or receive,

as they flow through them, a great accession to their waters. The rivers are the Tay, the Forth, the Earn, the Teath, and the Isla; of which the two first are by far the most considerable, though the Forth does not attain its full size till it has left this county. The Tay, the largest river in Scotland, and the Earn, belong exclusively to Perthshire. The Tay, under the name of the Dochart, has its source on the western confines, and soon after entering Loch Dochart, flows from thence north-east till it falls into Loch Tay. After leaving Loch Tay, from which it now takes its name, it pursues first a north-easterly and then a southerly course towards Dunkeld, from which it proceeds eastward, and then south, through a very rich country, till it falls into the Frith of that name, a little below the town of Perth; having been joined by the Almond and many other streams in its course, which, with all its windings, is not less than ninety miles. The salmon fishery on this river yields a rent of about £. 7000 a-year. South of Loch Tay is Loch Earn, where the river of that name has its source, and which, flowing east and south, through Strathearn and by the town of Crieff, after a course of twenty-four miles, falls into the Frith of Tay at Rhind. On the banks of this river, near its confluence with the Tay, is the village of Pitcaithly, long celebrated for its mineral springs, which have lately found a rival at Dunblane, on the southern side of the county.

The climate of this extensive district, so different in elevation and exposure, varies considerably. In the central parts, the winters are stormy and very severe, the snow lying long, attended with keen frost; and on the banks of the rivers in this quarter, hoar-frosts are frequent in summer, and very injurious to the crops. On the east, the climate is mild and salubrious. At Longforgan, in the Carse of Gowrie, on the banks of the Frith of Tay, the thermometer, on an average of twelve years, stood at $50^\{\backslash circ\}$, and the mean annual quantity of rain was 24.496 inches; and at Belmont, in Strathmore, for a period of ten years, the average height of the thermometer was 46.35, and the yearly quantity of rain during thirty years' observation 30.40 inches.

Perthshire, as far as yet known, does not abound in useful minerals. There is no coal but at Culross, on a small detached tract lying on the Forth, south-east from the rest of the county; and, for want of coal, limestone, which is found in many parts, is of little value, though it is sometimes imperfectly calcined by means of peat. Some years ago, a machine was erected for pounding limestone, with the view of employing it in that state as a manure; but the experiment was not persisted in. In the higher grounds, the prevailing rock is granite, and in the lower sandstone. Slates are found in many parts of the Highlands, but none in the low country. Copper, lead, and ironstone, occur in some parts; and mines of the two former were once worked, but are now abandoned. Shell marl, which has been long used as a manure, abounds in Stormont and Strathearn, on the east side of the county.

On so great a variety of surface, every description of soil occurs that is found in Scotland. That which distinguishes this district, though it is not peculiar to

Perthshire. it, is the alluvial soil on the banks of the rivers, which is of considerable extent, and in many parts of the richest quality. The Carse of Gowrie, in particular, a tract of about 18,000 acres, lying along the north and north-west banks of the Frith of Tay, has been long celebrated for its fertility. Here there are upwards of twenty orchards, of all sizes, from one to twenty-four acres each. Perthshire has all the kinds of game common in other parts of the Highlands of Scotland, with red and fallow deer, and roes, rabbits, pigeons, and poultry.

The territory of Perthshire was divided, in 1811, into 755 estates, of which 621 were under L. 500 Scots of valuation, and 95 above L. 2000; the valuation of the whole being L. 339,892, 6s. 9d. Scots, the highest of any of the Scottish counties excepting Fife. The real rent, as returned under the Property-Tax Act in 1811, was, for the lands, L. 460,738, 13s. 11d. Sterling, and for the houses, L. 36,697, 19s. 7d. This land-rent, which is more than that of any of the other counties by almost one-third, is equal to about a tenth part of the rent of all Scotland; yet it is only at the rate of about 5s. 6d. the English acre. In the same year, the number of freeholders entitled to vote in the election of a member for the county was 178. There are more oak-woods, and these of a greater value, here than in all the rest of Scotland, and very extensive plantations of all sorts of trees, particularly larch, have been made within the last 50 years; of which, those of the Duke of Atholl are of great extent, and now of immense value. The county is much ornamented by the numerous seats of the proprietors, of whom 12 or 13 are noblemen. Among these are Blair Castle and Dunkeld House—Duke of Atholl; Taymouth—Earl of Breadalbane; Scone—Earl of Mansfield; Dupplin Castle—Earl of Kinnoul; and Dunira—Lord Melville.

The general size of the farms in the Lowlands is from 100 to 300 acres. In the Highlands, the same system prevails that we have adverted to in describing the other Highland counties of Scotland; though here, as elsewhere, it is slowly giving way to one better adapted to the present times. In the crops, live stock, and general management of farms, we find nothing peculiar, except, perhaps, that flax is cultivated to a greater extent than in the southern counties of Scotland. On the Carse of Gowrie, the

highest rented land of the same extent in Britain, if we except the immediate neighbourhood of a few great towns, the order of cropping, after a plain fallow is—wheat, beans, and pease, barley with seeds, hay, and oats; and under this course, some of the best land yielded, so far back as 1795, a money-rent of 31s. with three bushels of wheat, and about four and a half bushels of barley—together, at the prices during the late war, equal to four guineas the Scots acre.

This county has only two royal burghs, Perth the Towns. county town, and Culross. Perth is a place of great antiquity, formerly the usual residence of the Scottish sovereigns, who were crowned at Scone in its vicinity, and the seat of parliaments and courts of justice. Some of the most important events in Scottish history, both of a religious and military description, occurred here. (See the article PERTH in the Encyclopædia.) It is now a well built thriving town, containing (in 1811) about 17,000 inhabitants. About 70 other towns and villages are scattered over the county, the most considerable of which have been already described in the Encyclopædia.

The manufactures of Perthshire are linen, cotton, leather, paper, and a variety of minor articles. It has extensive bleachfields, printfields, and cotton-mills, with mills for extracting oil from the seeds of flax and rape, and for the spinning of flax and wool. Its exports are corn, linen and linen-yarn, cottons, boots and shoes, salmon, with coals from the ports of Kincardine and Culross on the Frith of Forth; and it imports some of the materials of its manufactures, line in great quantities, and articles required for domestic consumption. In 1806, there belonged to the port of Perth 35 vessels, of 2635 tons in all, with 153 seamen.

The county of Perth sends one member to Parliament; and the towns of Perth and Culross have a share in the election of other two for the burghs; Perth being classed with St Andrews, Cupar Life, Dundee, and Forfar; and Culross with Stirling, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry.

The population, according to the census of 1801 and 1811, is exhibited in the following abstract.

See the general works quoted under the former Scottish counties, and Robertson's General View of the Agriculture of Perthshire.

(A.)

1800.