James Dawson

The farm of Crosscaple, parish of Dunblane, and barony of Kinbuck, Perthshire, was taken by Mr J Dawson for two nineteen, say thirty-eight years, and entered to in 1777, or 1778, at the annual rent of L.26 sterling. There was a clause in the lease, that Mr Dawson, the tenant, should, if he had a mind, plant all the wet ground that he did not think proper to plough, with trees of any kind; and the tenant should be at liberty to use what of that wood he required, during the currency of his lease, for all the husbandry purposes on the said farm, as well as for all the houses he required, or saw meet to erect on said farm. At the end, or expiration of said lease, all the standing timber was to be valued ... and the landlord was to pay the tenant in ready money. In February 1817, after the lease expired, Mr McArthur, forester in Drummond Castle, was chosen by and on the part of James Dawson, then the tenant (and now living in Dunblane), as his valuator; and I was appointed by the trustees for behoof of the heir of Kippenross, then a minor ... the value of the wood was L.1029 sterling; the whole rent of the farm for the 38 eyars was L.988 ... if the tenant has planted oak and ash rather than Scotch firs, he would have had nearly three times that sum to receive.⁴