Editing James Hutton (section)

===Farming and geology===
Hutton inherited from his father the [[Berwickshire]] farms of ''Slighhouses'', a lowland farm which had been in the family since 1713, and the hill farm of ''Nether Monynut''.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|2&ndash;3}} In the early 1750s he moved to ''Slighhouses'' and set about making improvements, introducing farming practices from other parts of Britain and experimenting with plant and animal husbandry.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|2&ndash;3}} He recorded his ideas and innovations in an unpublished treatise on ''The Elements of Agriculture''.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|60}}
[[File:Slighhouses.jpg|thumb|Front entrance to Hutton's farm Slighhouses.   Location: {{Coord| 55.82675| -2.28586|display=inline|name=slighhouses}}]]

This developed his interest in [[meteorology]] and geology. In a 1753 letter he wrote that he had "become very fond of studying the surface of the earth, and was looking with anxious curiosity into every pit or ditch or bed of a river that fell in his way". Clearing and draining his farm provided ample opportunities. The mathematician [[John Playfair]] described Hutton as having noticed that "a vast proportion of the present rocks are composed of materials afforded by the destruction of bodies, animal, vegetable and mineral, of more ancient formation". His theoretical ideas began to come together in 1760. While his farming activities continued, in 1764 he went on a geological tour of the north of Scotland with George Maxwell-Clerk,<ref name=f&g>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/Scr_Main.htm |title=Farming and Hutton the Geologist |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201817/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Geology/Scr_Main.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8gEAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22materials+afforded+by+the+destruction+of+bodies%2C+animal%2C+vegetable+and+mineral%2C+of+more+ancient+formation%22&pg=PA56 Playfair]</ref> ancestor of the famous [[James Clerk Maxwell]].<ref>{{cite book | title = The Life of James Clerk Maxwell | author = Campbell, Lewis |author2=Garnett, William | year = 1882 | publisher = Macmillan and Company | location = London | page = [https://archive.org/details/lifejamesclerkm01garngoog/page/n50 18] | url = https://archive.org/details/lifejamesclerkm01garngoog| quote = hutton George Clerk Maxwell. }}</ref>