A HISTORY of the SCOTTISH PEOPLE MIGRATION:
SCOTLANDS SHIFTING
POPULATION 1840-1940
W W Knox

The land was divided into medium and large sized estates and then carved up
to individual farms. By 1830 sub-tenants had disappeared and the typical

holding was 200 acres for large farms employing six men. Once the land was

divided in this way there was no scope for creating more tenants. The only

exception to this pattern was in north-east Scotland. In Aberdeenshire crofts

formed the majority of holdings.

The hiring system led to labourers and ploughmen contracting themselves to a

farmer for a period of six to twelve months. As the farmer had to provide board

and wages he was unlikely to take on more labour than was necessary to do the

job. When extra hands were needed at, for instance, harvest the farmer simply

employed immigrant Irish labourers.

The hiring and land tenure systems which developed led to the use of less labour

in the rural Lowlands, with the exception of the south-west and north-east.

Displaced farm labourers headed for the nearest town in search of work and

accommodation. By 1851 15% of the population of Peebles-shire had made its

way to Edinburgh. http://www.scran.ac.uk/scotland/pdf/SP2_7migration.pdf