supplies. The ironstone for the Gartsherrie works is now
brought from a considerable distance; formerly it was found within from
one to five miles from the furnaces. It is a distinctive peculiarity of
the huge establishment that it is divided by the Monkland Canal, the
blast furnaces standing in two parallel rows on each side of that
highway. Taking the whole of their works together, the Messrs. Baird
employ fully 9000 men and boys, and if we multiply this number by three,
which is a moderate figure, we get 27,000 souls as the number dependent
on the works of the firm. It is quite within the record to declare that
the Messrs. Baird, who turn out annually one-fourth of the entire
production of Scotland, are the largest pig iron makers in the world.

As landed proprietors, the Messrs. Baird have attained a pre-eminent
position in the West of Scotland. Besides his estate of Cambusdoon in
Ayrshire, which he purchased in 1853 for the sum of L22,000, Mr. James
Baird owns the estate of Knoydart, in Inverness-shire, for which in 1857
he paid L90,000. In 1863 he purchased the estate of Muirkirk, at the
price of L135,000, and he owns other properties in Ayrshire of
considerable value. On the death of his brother Robert, who died in
1856, he acquired the estate of Auchmedden, Aberdeenshire, which three
years previously had been purchased for the sum of L60,000. The other
members of the family have found an equally conspicuous place in
"Burke's Landed Gentry." William, who died in March, 1864, was
proprietor of the estates of Rosemount, in Ayrshire, and Elie, in
Fifeshire, the former purchased in 1853 for L47,000, and the latter in
the same year for L155,000. John was proprietor of the estates of
Lochwood, in Lanarkshire, and Ury, in Kincardineshire, the latter being
a gift from his brothers, by arrangement with William, who inherited it
from his father, by whom it was purchased in 1826; while Ury was
bequeathed by his brother Alexander, who purchased it in 1854 for the
sum of L120,000. Douglas, the sixth son, acquired the estate of
Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, for the sum of L225,000. George, a still
younger member of the family, was proprietor of the estate of Strichen,
in Aberdeenshire, and Stichell, in Roxburghshire--the former purchased
in 1865 for the sum of L145,000, and the latter inherited from his
brother David, who purchased it in 1853 for the sum of L150,000. The
family thus own estates representing in round numbers nea