An estate ledger of 1752-1793, lost since the dispersal sale of Spottiswoode in 1935, is the bases of this enquiry into a once-famous family, their estate and their contribution to the history of Scotland. From his detailed study of the ledger, Tom Barry has identified the 18th-century John Spottiswoode as one of the important agricultural improvers of his age. The book gives an account of the Laird's dealings with two generations of his workmen and tenants, turning a barren stretch of the Lammermuirs into what was to become a paradise of forest and productive farmland. The introduction sets John Spottiswoode's achievement in its wider context, tracing the Berwickshire family through its evolution from turbulent Lammermuir land holders, through dignitaries of Church and state under the Stuarts, to canny lawyers and men of business under the Hanoverians, and fully fledged members of the British upper class under Queen Victorian. During all that time, the family name and blood spread throughout Britain and the colonies, and, through Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia, through the United States.