CROPS GROWN IN KINTYRE AROUND
1800.
James Barbour.
The farms in Kintyre about 1800 bore little, if any, resemblance to the efficient farms of today. Indeed, methods were little different from what they had been two centuries earlier when the great Clan battles were being fought. The fairly steep sloping uplands were ploughed since the lower land was undrained and often flooded.There were very few enclosures, so that much damage to crops was done by livestock. Only a few of the more progressive farmers attempted a proper rotation of crops, and most pastures were of natural grasses.
Land was still divided into INFIELD or Croft (which still survives as a field name in Kintyre), and 0UTFIELD. The infield received almost all the available manure, and a typical seven year rotation was potatoes, bear, oats, oats, potatoes or beans, bear and oats. This was followed by a one, or sometimes two-year, rest. The only manure which reached the outfield was that carried there naturally by livestock. Oats were grown for three successive years and then the outfield was left dormant for three to four years, during which the natural grasses slowly established themselves. Thus the land became exhausted, and low yields meant that progressively more and more land had to be ploughed to maintain the required grain harvest. This excessive proportion of ploughed land could not be properly manured with the limited supplies available, and so yields were further depressed. It was a vicious circle.
Oatmeal was part of the population's staple diet and consequently large acreages of oats were sown each year; but despite this the peninsula was not self-sufficient and much corn had to be imported to meet local demand. The small black oats which had long been the main variety grown were losing favour as they did not meal well, and by 1800 were used only for cattle food, and were replaced by Blainsley and Polish oats. However, these newer varieties were apt to shed their grain before becoming fully ripe and were themselves in the process of being replaced by Peebles, (or red) oats, which matured earlier, gave good meal and were less susceptible to grain loss.
The other major crop in the district at that time was bear or four-rowed barley. This should not be confused with the two-rowed barleys of the present time which were almost unknown then. Bear was generally sown after a crop of potatoes or beans and was sold to the local distiller.. At that time distilling was a major industry, 10,000 bolls of bear being converted into whisky every year in Kintyre. (The Kintyre boll was equivalent to about 175 lbs avoirdupois, or just over l.5 cwts). Whilst the oat and potato crops were used by the tenant farmers mainly for subsistence, the revenue from the sale of the bear harvest was used to pay the rent. Then as now scarcely any wheat was grown in Kintyre. Grain yields were very low in comparison with modern standards, partly because of improper rotations and the lack of sufficient manure. It was not until later on in the 19th century that the use of local deposits of lime became general.
Kintyre was no different from other parts of Britain and Ireland, and it was reported in 1815 that potatoes formed the chief food of the people for nine months of the year. When plentiful they were also fed daily to horses and twice daily to dairy cows, one third of a Kintyre peck being considered an adequate ration for a horse. (The peck was a measure of weight unique to Kintyre, and equivalent to about 50 lbs. avoirdupois). Besides being important as a source of food, potatoes played a vital role in the primitive type of crop rotation.. The standard way, also, of reclaiming waste land was to plant potatoes after it had been ploughed up. Generally the potato crop was raised in drills, but some of the less well-off. still persisted in using the lazy-bed method of culture in,which the potatoes were simply planted on a level plot of ground. Apart from those using this very old method, returns were normally nine to twelve fold, but there are reports of returns of up to twenty fold in the parish of Southend. Very commonly the largest potatoes were chosen for seed and planted at the rate of two bolls per acre. The varieties in use then included Scotch-grey, Lady-white and Pink-eye.
Beans were introduced as a green crop at the end of the 18th century and were sown broadcast on the wetter oat stubbles, and then ploughed down to achieve sufficient depth of planting. Peas performed a similar function on the drier land, but were sometimes sown along with beans on poorer ground to increase the chances of covering the ground, and of checking weed growth. This mixing was also a form of insurance, since one or other would suit the season, whether it be very wet or very dry.
On clean, sandy soils some flax (or lint) was also grown, following a potato crop. This was mainly for family use and its potential was never fully exploited. For those who grew it successfully it was a profitable crop, and could be sold for up to 10 shillings a stone to a lint-mill, situated in the parish of Campbeltown.
Despite their potential as valuable winter feed, turnips, kale and cabbages were still virtually unheard of in Kintyre in 1800. About that time turnips had only been grown on an experimental basis by tenants on the Stonefield Estate in the parish of Kilcalmonell and Kilberry.
Cultivated grasses were rarely sown and consequently grazing was poor and only small yields of low quality hay were obtained. Often hay was not made until late summer, and so its quality was further impaired. The lack of hay combined with the absence of turnips meant that cattle had to survive the winter on dry straw. This seriously retarded their growth, and no improvement was more needed than that of pastures. During the nineteenth century, the introduction of stone and tile drainage, field enclosure and the proper rotation of crops, led to our modern efficient system of agriculture.
References:
"Agriculture Survey of Argyll" by James Robson (1793)
"Agriculture Survey of Argyll" by John Smith (1813)
"Kintyre in the 17th Century" by Andrew McKerral (1948)
Old Statistical Account of Scotland (1791)
New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845).
Page 2: The Great Pestilence in Kintyre
Page 4: Campbeltown's American Trade in the 18th Century
Page 7: Campbeltown Dialect
Herring Fishing Regulations
in 1811