Old Perthshire

An inland county of Scotland, bounded N. by the shires of Inverness and Aberdeen; E. by Forfarshire; SE. by the Firth of Tay and the counties of Fife and Kinross; S. by the shires of Clackmannan and Stirling; S.W. by the counties of Stirling and Dumbarton; W. by Argyllshire and N.W. by Inverness-shire. It is the fourth largest county in Scotland, having an area of 1,595,774 acres, including the island of Mugdrum in the Firth of Tay.

By far the greater part of the county is mountainous. Including the hills on the confines of Inverness-shire and Argyllshire, there are at least fifty mountains exceeding 3000 ft. in height. Of these the most familiar are Ben Lawers (3984 ft.) near Loch Tay, Ben More (3843) east of Crianlarich, Ben Lui (3708) on the Argyllshire border, Schiehallion (3547) south of Loch Rannoch, Ben Vannoch (3125) west of Loch Lyon, and Ben Chonzie (3048) near the head of Glen Almond. Of the immense number of hills of lesser altitude there may be mentioned four that have been popularized by the Lady of the Lake-Ben Ledi (2875) and Uam Var (2179) near Callander, and Ben Venue (2393) and Ben A'an (1750), guardians of the Trossachs.

The Ochils divide Perthshire from the shires of Clackmannan, Kinross and Fife. The chief river is the River Tay, which rises on the Argyllshire frontier and discharges into the North Sea off Buddon Ness. Its head-waters are the Fillan and Dochart, and among its affluents are, on the right, the Bran, Almond and Earn and, on the left, the Lyon, Tummel, rising in Argylishire and receiving the Garry on its left, and Isla. The Earn flows out of Loch Earn and enters the Firth of Tay 61/2 m. below Perth.

The Forth, the principal natural boundary of the shire on the south, properly belongs to Stirlingshire, in which it rises, but its leading left-hand affluents are Perthshire rivers, namely, the Teith, the Goodie, issuing from the lake of Menteith, and the Allan, rising in the Ochils near Sherjffmujr. All the lakes are narrow, scarcely one exceeding a mile in width. Loch Ericht, belonging partly to Inverness-shire. Loch Tay, situated about the centre, is the largest lake in the county. In the south are the series of lakes which the Lady of the Lake has rendered famous-Loch Vennachar (41/2 m. long), Loch Achray (13/4 m. long), Loch Katrine (about 8 m. long); to the west of Aberfoyle is Loch Ard (3 m. long) and to the east Lake Menteith (11/2 m. long).

Nearly all the glens possess striking natural features, among them, from south to north, being Glens Artney, Almond, Dochart, Ogle, Lochay, Lyon, Garry, Shee, Bruar and Tilt; while the Trossachs, Killiecrankie, Birnam and Leny are the loveliest passes in the Highlands. The low-lying country is represented mainly by Strathmore, Strath Gartney, Strathallan, noted for its annual "gathering" or games, Strathearn, Strath Bran, Strath Tay and Strath Fillan, but more particularly by the fertile alluvial belts of the Carse of Gowrie, on the northern shore of the Firth of Tay, and the Carse of Stirling.

The Moor of Rannoch on the borders of Argylishire is a sterile boulder-strewn waste, and Flanders Moss, to the south-east of Lake Menteith, is a vast boggy tract, which is, however, being gradually reclaimed and brought under cultivation.

Geology
The Highland portion of this county is built up of a great series of schists and metamorphosed rocks grouped as "Dalradian" or Eastern schists. The general direction of the strike of these rocks is W.S.W.- EN.E. They are cut off from the Old Red Sandstone, which occupies most of the remainder of the county, by the great fault which traverses the county somewhat to the north of Aberfoyle and Crieff. But for some distance north and east of Crieff the boundary between these two formations is an unconformable one.

In the neighbourhood of the fault line the Highland schists are less metamorphosed than they are farther north; about Comrie and Callander they consist of shales, greywackes and igneous rocks with radiolarian chertsand black shales that are suggestive of the rocks of Arenig age in south Scotland. At Aberfoyle, Comrie and Dunkeld roofing slates are worked and massive limestones occur in Glen Tilt, Pitlochry, Callander, Blair Atholl, Loch Rannoch and other places. A great variety of schists form the bulk of the series; but granite masses appear in their midst as at Loch Rannoch, Loch Ericht and Glen Tilt, and there are numerous acid and intermediate dikes which are themselves traversed by later basaltic dikes.

The Old Red Sandstone consists in the lower portion mainly of coarse volcanic agglomerates and lava flows followed by conglomerates, sandstones and marls. The lowest beds are exposed along the crest of the Ochil Hills which like the Sidlaw Hills are anticlinal in structure, while between the Ochils and the Highland fault the rocks are folded into syncline; near the fault they become very steeply inclined and even inverted, and it is interesting also to note that the sediments become coarser as the fault is approached. The Upper Old Red Sandstone is well exposed near the Bridge of Earn ,and it extends beneath the marine platform of the Carse of Gowrie. The rocks are mainly red sandstones and marls, let down between two parallel east and west faults but between the Bridge of Earn and Forgandenny, west of the tract, they are seen to rest unconformably upon the lower division. Small outliers of Carboniferous rocks (lower) occur on the north of the Ochils. The marks of ice action left by the Glacial epoch are abundant and striking in Perthshire; moraines are common in the Highland glens, as those at the head of the Glengarry on borders of Loch Katrine; ice-scratched surfaces are found on the Sidlaw Hills, the Ochils, Kinnoull Hill and elsewhere; and erratic blocks of stone, such as "Samson's Putting Stone," a mass of Highland schist resting on a hill of Old Red Sandstone near Coilantogle, are widely distributed. Old high level marine beaches form terraces far up several of the larger streams, and the Carse of Gowrie, as already indicated, is formed by the beach at the 50-ft. level. The gravel cones poured out at the mouths of many of the glens which open on the south of the Ochils on to the 100-f t. or 50-ft. beaches are often the site of villages.

Climate and Agriculture
The mountainous territory is extremely wet, the rainfall for the year varying from 93 in. in Glengyle at the head of the Loch Katrine to 37 in. at Pitlochry and 23 in. at Perth. Winter and autumn are the rainiest seasons. The temperature is remarkably constant everywhere, averaging 47° F. for the year, January being the coldest month (36.5° F.) and July the hottest (59° F.). Only a little more than one-fifth of the total area is under cultivation, and of this nearly one-third is in permanent pasture, while in addition there are about 930,000 acres of hill pasturage. The arable land is chiefly in the drier regions of the east and south-east, the soil for the most part being fertile.

Light soils prevail in the lower undulating districts; clay and alluvial land occur in the Carse of Gowrie, the Carse of Stirling and the lower reach of Strathearn below and above Bridge of Earn. The best heavy carse land is very rich and productive, but requires to be thoroughly worked, limed and manured, being well adapted for wheat. A considerable area is occupied by orchards, the light quick soil of Tayside and the upper districts of Menteith being admirably fitted for apples. The number of holdings is slightly in excess of 5000 and of these the majority are under 50 acres each, chiefly in the Highland valleys and near the villages and small towns. Of grain, oats is the predominating crop, but barley and wheat are also grown. Two-thirds of the area devoted to' green crops is occupied by turnips, the rest by potatoes. Most of the horses raised, chiefly Clydesdales, are used solely for agricultural purposes. Although dairy-farming is not an important industry, a large number of cows, principally Ayrshires, are kept on the lowland farms, the herds of the straths and mountain pastures being most usually West Highlands or Kyloes.

Perthshire, next to Argylishire, still carries the heaviest flocks in Scotland. Blackfaced is the principal breed in the Grampians, but there is also a large number of Cheviots and South Downs, and Leicesters are common on the lower runs. Only one-seventeenth of the surface is under wood. This is well up to the proportion of the other Scottish counties, but compares unfavourably with the conditions existing in I812, when 203,880 acres were under wood, of which 61,164 were planted and 142,716 natural. In Breadalbane and Menteith there are remains of the ancient Caledonian forest. Perthshire affords exceptional facilities for sport with rod and gun. The lochs and rivers abound with salmon and trout, while hardly any' of the streams have suffered pollution from industries or manufactures. The deer forests, exceeding 100,000 acres in area, are frequented by red deer and roe deer, and on the extensive moors and in the woods are found grouse, pheasants, partridge, capercailzie, woodcock, ptarmigan and hares.

Industries
The shire is famous for its dyeing and bleaching works, which are situated in Perth and its vicinity; but, apart from these, there are flax and jute mills at Rattray and cotton mills at Stanley, Deanston and Crieff; woollens, linen, jute and tartans are woven at Dunblane, Alyth, Blairgowrie, Coupar-Angus, Auchterarder and Crieff; tanning is carried on at Blackford, Coupar-Angus and Crieff' there are breweries and distilleries at various places, as at Auchterarder and Logierait; granite, freestone, limestone and slate are quarried at different centres; and there are sawmills and flour-mills.

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