F- 38 3

the ſouth weſt, ſouth, ſouth eaſt, and eaſt; and from the ports of Perth and Newburgh on the north. Here is the ſeat of the ſheriff, juſtice of peace, and baron baifie courts. The population, including the town's territory, amounts to 1437. This town, it would appear, formerly conſiſted of 47 ſead- ings or tofts, as they aye commonly called. That it did ſo,

18 evident from an agreement mutually entered into in 1708, for the diviion of a common, called the myirs of Kinroſs, to which common each of the tofts had an equal right. The inhabitants then derived their ſubſiltence chicßly from the produce of the town acres, gtazing their cattle on the ſe- veral commons belonging to the place, and from the fiſh of Lochleven. Between 60 and 70 new houſes have been added to the town within the laſt 30 years 3 they are inhabited by about 150 families. The rents of houſes are from 398. to 53. each.---There are annually four fairs in the town; and are well frequented, eſpecially for cattle and horſes. The villages in the county are few, and not very populous» They are moſtly occupied by mechanics and cottagers.

Villages, inhabited by induſtrious and ſober people, are of great ſervice, not only to the community at large, but alſo to the intereſts of agriculture, eſpecially where it is car- ried on with judgment and vigour."The operations in the fields, if under 2a judicious ſyſtem of cropping, eſpecially if green crops are introduced, require, in certain ſeaſons of the year, a greater number of hands than could with propriety be ſupported conſtantly on the farm. The neighbouring villages will ſupply theſe ſupernumerary labourers of all deſcriptions, and at all times, when their ſervices are neceflary. Their wages, during the time they are at work, may indeed: be ſomewhat higher than the ordinary fees of ſervants hired by the year 3; but as their labour is required only for a ſhort time, che expence is trifling when compared with the heavy burden

of ſupporting thoſe ſervants who entirely depend on a farm that