Agriculture

Here's something on Scottish agriculture... I think this would probably be good to have linked to from Bartleman's page, as I had mentioned that his reasons for joining McKenzie were unclear, but the situation wasn't all that great in Scotland at the time.

The agricultural situation in Scotland had always been poorer than that in England, and even as far back as the seventeenth century, England had worried about an influx of poor and ragged Scots migrating southwards. Whereas English labourers were generally relatively well-clothed, some Scottish labourers did not even have shoes, and their quality of life was generally lower. Matters did not much improve, and “by 1840, the agrarian revolution in Britain had reduced many farm servants to the status of labourers.” 1 Even by the early twentieth century, “the foot-plough and hand-winnowing [were] still…common” in some parts of Scotland, while more advanced farming techniques, requiring “heavy capitalization” were being utilized in England. 2 . In the later part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, there had been a population increase that had created a “glut of agricultural labour in the south [of Scotland]. 3 . Therefore, throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, labour was readily available to farmers, often at low cost. “Indeed, the problem became one of supporting through the Poor Law an increasing population of agricultural labourers many of whom were surplus to requirements even at the busy season.” 4. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that many men signed on to work with Kenneth McKenzie, as it offered them a way to escape the uncertainties that must have faced them in Scotland. Signing on with a company promised a term of stability and employment, as well as a place to live. Due to the hiring practices in Scotland, to be unemployed also often meant being homeless, as “cottages surplus to such requirements [on the farm] were pulled down and the building of new accommodation rigorously controlled.” 5.

Notes:
1. Alastair Orr, “Farm Servants and Farm Labour in the Forth Valley and South-East Lowlands,” in Farm Servants and Labour in Lowland Scotland 1770-1914, ed. T.M. Devine (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1984), 30.

2. Kenneth O. Morgan, The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 477.

3. T.M. Devine, “Introduction: Scottish Farm Service in the Agricultural Revolution” in Farm Servants and Labour in Lowland Scotland 1770-1914, ed. T.M. Devine (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1984), 3.

4. T.M. Devine, “Introduction”, 3.

5. T.M. Devine, “Introduction,” 6.

I think this would probably be good to have on Melrose's page, as I mentioned a bit about his duties on the farm.

It has been noted that the lives of Scottish labourers were quite different than those of their English counterparts, and in northern England and Scotland, labourers were involved in "stock-rearing, fattening and cropping", wherein labourers were involved in "weeding, dunging, singling and intensive ploughing." 1 Scottish labourers were generally hired long-term and boarded on the farm, and the average day for a Scottish labourer was ten hours long with a two-hour rest. 2 As at Craigflower, it appears that most Scottish labourers generally were paid at least partially in kind rather than in money, and this system did not seriously decline in Scotland until the late nineteenth century. 3 Due to the fact that a number of Scottish farms were often located far from villages, it was impractical to pay labourers solely in cash.4

Notes:
1. T.M. Devine, “Introduction: Scottish Farm Service in the Agricultural Revolution” in Farm Servants and Labour in Lowland Scotland 1770-1914, ed. T.M. Devine (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1984), 4.

2. Devine, "Introduction", 4.

3. Devine, "Introduction", 4.

4. Devine, "Introduction", 6.

I am currently working on either shaving down the Melrose/Bartleman stuff or at the very least, dividing it into sections, with headings such as "Early Life", "Life at Craigflower", etc.