Agriculture.-A practical and extensive agriculturist has
favoured the writer with the following statements. He computes
the whole number of acres within the parish at 7520.
| Of the above number there are either cultivated. or in occasional tillage | 6000 |
| Acres which have never been cultivated, and which remain constantly waste or in pasture | 1139 |
| Acres which might, with a profitable application of capital, be added to the cultivated land of the parish. whether that land was afterwards to be kept in occasional tillage or in permanent pasture | 360 |
| Under wood, either natural or planted, there are | 181 |
The kind of wood planted is Scots fir, larch, spruce, ash, elm,
birch, oak, lime, and plane. The natural wood is, oak and birch,
all kept properly thinned and in good order. The time of felling
the planted wood is generally in the months of February and March;
and the time of cutting the natural or copse-wood, and all oak
for peeling, is the month of May. The time for thinning wood
is in winter.
Rent of Land,- The average rent of arable land per acre,.
is L. 1, 15s, The average rent of grazing oxen and yeld cows
per annum, is L 3 each ; or milk cows, L. 4 each ; of ewes or
full-grown sheep, 17s, each.
Live-Stock.- No sheep are bred in the parish except pets,
which are mostly of the Leicester and Cheviot kind. Ewes are
sometimes grazed in parks, which are of the black-faced breed.
The cattle are generally of the Ayrshire sort, and the breed
very much improved of late years, by giving premiums for the best
bulls and cows, &c. Horses are mostly of the Clydesdale description,
and the breed also much improved by premiums for the best stallions
and brood mares The style of farming is also greatly improve
by premiums bestowed annually on the best ploughman, and for the
best managed farm.
Draining is much neglected in the parish, from the want of capital
among the tenants. The general duration of leases is nineteen
years, which is considered to answer well for both proprietor
and tenant The state of farm-buildings and enclosures is not
good. The principal improvements which have recently been made
in the parish, are by the Messrs Gilmour of Knowhead, by means
of thorough draining and trenching the most part of their lands,
which are now worth double the rent in consequence.6
The want of capital prevents many a tenant from liming and purchasing
manure for his land. Were landlords to allow so much for every
chalder of lime which the tenant laid on the farm, it would increase
both the produce and the rent. To give premiums for the greatest
quantity of draining on a farm- for the largest and best field
of turnip and potatoes - for the best laid down field of hay,
&c. would give a stimulus to agriculture of the most beneficial
description. Sheds and straw-yards are likewise much wanted in
this parish, to enable the farmer to feed and rear more stock,
and so to make more manure and sow more turnips for feeding, &c.
; for the more manure, the more turnips; the more turnips, the
more cattle; and the more cattle, the more manure again, and so
on indefinitely.
Quarries and Mines.-The quarries are of freestone and whinstone.
There are several mines of iron ore in the glen of Castle-rankine,
and on the estates of Herbertshire and Myot-hill : but they are
not, at present, from the want of a remunerating price, worked.
The coal mine at present at work in the parish, is that of Banknock,
already described. About ninety workers, young and old, are employed
in the various operations going on there. Three steam-engines
are constantly at work.
Produce.-The average gross amount of raw produce
raised in the parish, as nearly as can be ascertained, is as follows:
| Oats | 9000 quarters |
| Barley | 1300 |
| Wheat | 500 |
| Beans | 100 |
| Pease | 100 |
| Rye-grass hay | 200 tons |
| Meadow hay | 100 |
| Flax | 2 |
which, estimated at the rates formerly mentioned, makes the value
of the raw produce to be as follows:
| Produce of grain of all kinds whether cultivated for the food of man or of the domestic animals | 15,130 |
| Potatoes, turnips, cabbages, beet, and other plants cultivated in the fields for food | 3,600 |
| Hay, whether meadow or cultivated | 1,050 |
| Crops cultivated for the arts, as flax | 70 |
| Land in pasture, rating at L.3, 10s per cow or full-grown ox grazed, or that may be grazed for the season, at 17s. Per ewe or full grown sheep, pastured, or that may be pastured for the year | 2,000 |
| Mines, whether coals, quarries, or metals | 500 |
| Miscellaneous produce not enumerated | 100 |
| 22,450 | |
Farmer's Club. - A farmer's club was recently instituted
in the parish for encouraging agriculture in all its departments:
it is exciting attention to ploughing, breeding, &c.
Manufactures. -The mills on the river Carron, in
the parish of Denny, have been already stated to be eleven.
The upper-most are Garvald mills. There are two of them, and
both are employed in grinding charcoal for moulders, &c.
Each mill has a miller at 12s. per week of wages, and a man, horse,
and cart, to bring charcoal to the mills, and to carry the ground
produce to the moulders. The carters have each 12s. per week.
The next mill down the river is Tamaree, for grinding oats, and
preparing pot-barley.
The next lower down is Mr R. B. Lusk's mill at Carron Grove, for
manufacturing millboard, and different kinds of coarse paper.
The workers employed are, 15 men, 2 women, 2 lads, and 6 boys;
wages are paid every fortnight, and average about L. 27 every
fortnight. The materials used are almost exclusively old tar-red
ropes, of which fully one ton, on an average, is used daily. No
rags are made use of in this manufactory. The goods manufactured
are almost exclusively millboards, which are used for the boards
of books, of which from four to five tons per week are manufactured.
Sometimes a little coarse paper is made, used for sheathing ships
and other purposes, as also some large coarse millboards, used
by engineers for making steam-joints tighter The mill is lighted
by gas, and the manufactured goods dried by steam and heated air.
The excise duty paid is from L 300 to L. 400 every six weeks.
Next in order, down this lovely though busy spot on Carron Banks
from Tamareelin, is Herbertshire Mill, the property of William
Forbes, Esq. Messrs Alexander Duncan & Sons carry on at this
mill the manufacture of writing-paper. They employ upwards of
20 men and 50 women. The wages are paid monthly; on an average,
15s. per week for the men, and 5s. for the women: besides these,
2 men and 4 horses are constantly employed carting rags and coals,
and carting the paper to Grangemouth for shipment to London.
The workers principally reside in Denny and Fankerton, a small
village in the parish up the Carron, and in the neighbourhood.
The following is an account of the process of paper-making at
Herbertshire Mill:
As soon as the rags are cut by women across a scythe blade fixed
into a table covered with wire-cloth, for the purpose of getting
rid of the dust and sand, they are passed into the boiling-house,
where they are boiled for twelve hours; afterwards, they are washed,
and broke into a pulp by an iron cistern, called a paper-engine,
capable of holding one hundred weight of rags, which are beat
by a roller with thirty-six steel bars, which turn on a plate
in the bottom of the cistern. Five of these engines, of twenty
steel bars, are kept constantly going night and day, requiring
upwards of forty horse power to drive them and the other requisite
machinery. After the rags are broke in and bleached for twenty-four
hours, they are beat into pulp or stuff ready for passing on to
the paper-machine, perhaps one of the most complete pieces of
machinery ever invented in this country; as, in one room of 60
feet in length, by 25 feet wide, one may see the stuff much resembling
churned milk, passing by means of a fine web of wire-cloth fifteen
feet long into a series of rolls used in pressing out the water,
and forming the paper into a firm body. It then passes into a
set of cylinders heated by steam, from which it is reeled into
rolls in a perfectly finished state, quite dry and pressed, ready
for use. Six of the rolls are then put on to the cutting-machine,
which cuts them into the sizes required. The cutting-machine
is the invention of Messrs Foudrinier of Hanley, Staffordshire,
and patent. It is capable of cutting 144 sheets per minute of
post or writing-paper. On an average, 26 cwt. of rags are cut
per day in the rag-house, and 21 cwt. of them beat into stuff,
yielding an average of from 1600 to 1700 lbs. per day of twenty-four
hours, as all the machinery is kept going night and day. The
duty paid every six weeks averages L.320; the wages every month,
L.100; carting, and other carriages, L. 40. The water-wheel for
driving the paper engines is 24 feet diameter, and fully 12 feet
wide, all iron, and weighs 88 tons. Another small wheel is used
for driving the paper-machines, 22 feet diameter, and 18 inches
wide. The works are lighted with gas, and four tons of coals are
used daily.
There has been a considerable branch of the woollen trade carried
on in this parish, for thirty years past.
The next three mills are at work in this manufacture. They are
driven by water power, and are extensively engaged at present
in the manufacture of tartan and fancy shawls, and linsey-woolsey
stuffs, solely upon account of Messrs Wingate and Son and Company
of Glasgow. Mr John Wingate of this firm is well known in the
country, as a distinguished Constitutionalist, and one of the
munificent Church Extensionists of Glasgow. The quantity of wool
wrought up into these goods exceeds 160,000 lbs. annually. The
various branches of the manufacture are included, viz. spinning
of the yarns, dyeing, weaving, and the finishing of the goods,
which afford employment to nearly 200 persons of both sexes, young
and old. The wages paid average L 300 per month. The water of
the river Carron being uncommonly. pure and soft is peculiarly
adapted for cleaning and dyeing, producing bright fancy colours,
so requisite in that description of goods. The three mills are
all on Carron, and near each other, two at Stoneywood, and one
at Randolph Hill,-lighted by gas, and heated by steam. A recent
cut from Tamaree lin supplies plentifully with water four of these
mills. Before that cut was executed, there was no paper-mill
below Tamaree lin, excepting Herbertshire mill, at which, according
to the old practice, paper was made by the hand. Combinations
among. operative paper-makers were, at that time, a frequent cause
of great annoyance to masters, and of misery to many innocent
families. The improvements mentioned have put an end to combinations
among paper-makers.
A mill for chipping, rasping, and grinding dye stuffs, belonging to the firm of Messrs John Gray and Son, stands on the river bank a little below Herbertshire mill. The company have lately enlarged their premises by the works on Castle Rankine Glen, so that they now not only furnish the dye stuffs, but, by means of the addition referred to, provide at once to manufacturers of fancy woollen, cotton and linsey-woolsey articles, the liquor for the colours desired.. The company employs 21 hands, and pays monthly L 46, 12s. of wages.
Lowest on the river in this parish, is Denny corn and pot-barley
mill, belonging to the estate of Herbertshire, which has a large
thirlage astricted to it.
Distilleries.- There are two distilleries in the
parish; one is in the close vicinity of Denny, under the firm
of Macpherson and Macnaughton. It consumes yearly 3500 quarters
of malt made from barley, which produces 53,500 gallons of proof
spirits. Two stills are used : contents of the wash still, 500
gallons; of the low-wines still, 400 gallons. Bear or big makes
the finest spirits: but this is not so profitable to the distiller.
The best season for distilling is in spring; and for fermentation,
autumn. This distillery affords a ready market for the barley
of the farmers in the vicinity, and of others more distant..
Such is the confidence of the farmers in the Company, that it
is a common practice to forward the grain at once to the distillery,
and, if received there, to leave the settlement of the price to
the Company, without previous bargain. The other distillery is
at Bankier, in the southern division of the parish, on the Bonny,
and is much the same in respect of consumption of barley, and
of the quantity and kind of spirits produced.
Brick- Work, &c.- A brick and tile-work has recently
been set agoing in this district of the parish, which will be
a great accommodation to the parish and neighbourhood.
About a mile and a half east, on the lands of Knowhead, a spade
manufactory, famed for the excellence of the article manufactured,
has been erected. An adjoining morass furnishes water-power for
working the ponderous hammer by which the materials for spades
are consolidated, and afterwards beaten into plates. The wooden
handles for the spades are likewise prepared at the mill; and
the goods sent to the market, fit for immediate use.
It remains only to notice, that there are two extensive calico-printing
establishments in the immediate vicinity of the town of Denny,
although locally in the parish of Dunipace, of whose labourers
three-fourths and upwards have their habitations and families
in the town of Denny. The labourers, old and young, employed at
these printfields, amount, on an average, to 1000, three-fourths
of whose monthly wages amount, on an average, to L.1200. On the
whole, then, it appears, that there are about 1100 individuals
of the parochial population who are workers at manufactories,
the average produce of whose monthly wages is L. l, 13s. to each
individual, of whom some receive L. 8 per month, and others 8s.
per month.
The whole machinery of the mills enumerated, and of all the manufactories
west from the junction of Bonny with Carron, (which takes place
about two miles east from Denny,) were driven, until within these
few years, by Carron water alone. The supply of Carron, however,
from agricultural improvements going on in the high grounds through
which the river flows, was unsteady; and, within these five or
six years, the proprietors of the mills upon its banks, in order
to obtain a fuller supply of water-power, were induced to form
themselves into a society, and, by subscription, produced funds
to erect an embankment for a reservoir upon the Earl's-burn, about
nine miles above Denny. The artificial lake thus erected, covers
an extent of nearly 60 acres. The embankment is 22 feet in height.
The cost of the whole has fallen little short of L. 2000, and
was borne by a few individuals. On the 24th of October 1839, after
a great fall of rain, the embankment gave way. Much injury was
done, by the resistless torrent, to property along the whole course
of the Carron downwards.