Previous studies of Shetland's economy have tended to focus on its maritime aspects, while the complementary agricultural system had received little direct attention. But the traditional resources of Shetland are more evenly balanced between land and sea than those of either the Faroes or Orkney, and this scholarly and original book seeks to give the agriculture of Shetland the weight it merits.
It examines the transformation of Shetland's agricultural economy from one of subsistence in the eighteenth century to one of commercial stock-rearing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A radical contribution towards this transformation was the division and taking into landlord ownership of a large part of the common grazing the scattald which, supplemented by fishing, had provided the vital element of a subsistence economy. Innovations such as enclosed fields, drained mosses, changed crops and rotations, and the introduction of large numbers of sheep and cattle had a profound effect on the landscape of the islands.
One of the advantages of new technology is that it enables hard-to-find books to be made available again. We are pleased to present the first fruits of exploring John Donald's classic backlist of academic titles. Not only do we hope to add more titles to the list but look forward to bringing in other titles suitable for this system as time goes on.
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