ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 20 



for perusal, the writer has been kindly favoured) will no douLt 

 be read with appreciation. At the outset, Mr Murray states 

 that he is " fully satisfied that a very large area in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Lairg, lying westwards along the baid<s of Loch 

 Shin and northwards on the banks of the Tirry liiver, is 

 capable of being made greatly more productive, either as arable 

 land or by surface improvement, and that the measure is recom- 

 mended by many considerations of public policy as well as of 

 private interest." Fixing on this spot as the seat of the first 

 series of improvements, he proceeds to discuss the reasons he 

 had Iieard against the reclamations. " The climate," he says, 

 " is not nearly so cold as in many other districts which are in 

 profitable cultivation ; and on the furthest west margin, to which 

 I would at present extend improvement, I have seen excellent 

 crops of oats and barley ripened as soon as the average of the 

 north of Scotland generally, and much sooner than is usual in 

 Caithness and the heights of Aberdeen and Banff. Turnips and 

 potatoes also grow perfectly at Shiness. From 110 to 150 feet 

 higher than the existing fields of Shiness, there are traces of 

 corn cultivation in old times, with the rude appliances of these 

 days. It is said that the district is especially liable to mildew 

 — that heavy mists lie by the side of the lake, frequently 

 causing loss both to grain and green crops, I have seen those 

 mists on several occasions, and once went to examine them ; 

 and I have no doubt that they are injurious. But I am equally 

 satisfied that tliey are removable, and that they will disappear 

 as a consequence of the improvement of the district. There are 

 large 'floes,' or green mosses full of stagnant water, in the 

 locality, and great want of drainage everywhere ; and from 

 precisely similar experience in a smaller area — as well as from 

 many recorded instances all over Scotland — I am satisfied that 

 these mists will be gradually removed. I grant that they point 

 to the necessity of a larger drainage operation, but to no other 

 difficulty. It is said that the locality is so exposed that the 

 wind does injury, — to this I attach no importance. During 

 spring, summer, and autumn, I have no doubt the influence of 

 wind is neither more nor less than in other unsheltered districts, 

 and that it is more temperate than the extreme eastern coasts. 

 In winter I have no doubt it is a wild place for drift, — but that 

 is an argument against its pastoral character, not against re- 

 clamation. And, of course, I am to recommend planting for 

 shelter, and good stone or turf fences for sub-divisions. There 

 was formerly great force in the reasons urged in respect of the 

 inland position of the district, and the cost and difficulty of 

 communication ; Ijut these arc now removed by the railway. 

 The most distant acre proposed to be reclaimed will not be 

 seven miles from a station." Proceeding to state the arguments 



