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The Ayr Advertiser, or West Country & Galloway Journal 4 July 1861 p 4 col 6
The Late Alexander Ralston Esq.

It has seldom been our duty to record a local event which has given rise to such a feeling of emotion in the County as has been caused by the demise of Mr Ralston in what so lately might have been regarded as the prime of an active life. After an illness of four months, during the greater part of which time recovery was fondly hopes for, he is cut off in the 54th year of his age. Few of our County men have been so well known and so highly respected. For a number of years he has held the foremost place amongst the agriculturists of Ayrshire. With fine natural talents, which were improved by a good education; with an aptitude for business, and ample means at his command for carrying on the best system of farming, with a handsome figure, courteous manners, and a spirit of honour & integrity which sustained his dignity in all circumstances, he might well be regarded as a “representative man” by the tenantry of his native county. A landed proprietor, on a small scale, as well as a farmer, he formed a connecting link between the two classes, but he never forgot that he was by birth and inclination a cultivator of the soil.

Early in life – almost in boyhood – Mr Ralston commenced farming on the shore of Carrick, and he never removed two miles from his native place. He soon established a reputation for successful management. In his hands Dunduff became a sort of model farm, where the best modern practices applicable to the locality were followed out in a systematic manner. And he evinced his sound sense and practical sagacity by taking his place in the short time as the leading farmer, without falling into the error so common to intelligent young men, of farming for show, irrespective of utility. Any man who is regardless of expense may grow heavy crops, but Mr Ralston had the much higher merit of raising a maximum produce in a profitable manner. In his farming, as in his general conduct, he avoided everything superficial or ostentatious.

About ten years ago he removed from Dunduff to Lagg, a few miles nearer Ayr. Here he introduced the Myremill practice of applying liquid manure to the soil by means of tanks, metal pipes, and hose. Availing himself of the elevated situation of his farm steading, he distributed the liquid manure on the land at a lower level by gravitation, and thus saved the expenses attending the erection and maintenance of a steam engine and pumps. Finding this practice profitable under skilful and economical management, he persevered in it, but he was careful not to encourage his visitors to imitate his example by holding out expectations of a large return.

As might be expected from a man of his intelligence and prominent position, he took an active part in the proceedings of the Ayrshire Agricultural Association from its institution in 1836. He was also a member of the Highland Society, and of some of the more important societies of his district. The St Quivox Farmers Club, with the late Mr Campbell of Craigie as its president, and Mr Ralston as its vice president, gave a powerful impulse to improvement in the vicinity of the County town, and its proceedings may almost be looked upon as forming an era in the history of Ayrshire Agriculture.

In addtion to his business as a farmer, Mr Ralston did a good deal of work as a Drainage Commissioner, and as a Land Valuator. He was likewise frequently employed in railway and other arbitrations, and decided many cases as a judicial referee. These delicate duties he performed with tact and discretion, and we believe made no enemies even amongst the oft time wrongheaded parties who were disappointed with his decisions.

He is now gone, and his manly form and radiant countenance will be missed from the public markets, where to many of us they have long been familiar. In the social circles which he adorned, his memory will be affectionately cherished. But it was in the domestic sphere that he sought his chief earthly happiness, and there the stroke of his removal falls in its full severity. In all relations of life he is esteemed. With peculiar opportunities of knowing his worth, we sincerely give expression to the feeling which pervades every circle of his numerous acquaintances in the counties of Ayr & Wigton, in bestowing this humble tribute of admiration on a singularly useful and well-spent life.

Looking south from the links at Ayr, September 1998. The Ralstons farmed the sloping land to the right in the distance (Dunduff and Lagg) from about 1820 to 1878. Taken by Bruce Ralston Sep 1998		Dunduff, Maybole. Taken by Elizabeth Revell, 2004