ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 33 



an old set of Howard's steam-ploiigli tackle wliicli Imd pre- 

 viously l)eeu eniplo}'ed by His Grace in reclaiminj^' a piece of 

 moss-land near (Jppat. Preparations for the works at Lair" 

 had been goini^ on for sonic time pniviously. A lari^e part of 

 the farm of Dalcliork, on the south-east side of the Tirry river, 

 had been drained, and about 20 acres trenched by manual 

 labour. At the very outset, as predicted by Mr Murray, the 

 ])rocess of plou-;hin,!4' the Lair<>' land by steam was almost 

 brought to a standstill by the numerous large stones and tree- 

 roots that lay embedded in the soil. Breakages were constantly 

 occurring, and it seemed as if the attempt would have to be 

 abandoned. Just in time, however, a happy idea occurred 

 almost simultaneously, it is said, to the Duke, his private secre- 

 tary, Mr Wright, and to his farm manager, Mr John Maclennan. 

 This was the substitution on the plough of a revolving disc for 

 the ordinary culter ; and small though the alteration may seem, 

 it has proved tlie key to the colossal results that have followed. 

 Without it the ploughing by steam would to a certainty have 

 had to be given up. The disc culter has long been in use in 

 many parts of the world, but in this application there is the 

 new element of fixing the disc so that it cuts about two inches 

 lower than the share of the plough. It will thus be seen that 

 by being so fixed, the revolving culter carries the plough over 

 all obstacles, whether stones or roots, leaving them bare, to be 

 taken out by men who follow in the furrow. The patent for 

 this application of the disc culter, it may be mentioned, is held 

 by j\Ir John Macleinian, who is now tenant of the farm of j\iains 

 of Resolis, in the Black Isle, Eoss-shire. The Howard tackle, 

 however, was found much too weak in every respect for such 

 heavy work, and application was made to Messrs John Fowler 

 & Co., Leeds, who willingly came forwarda to assist the noble 

 Duke in the development of his views. These preliminary 

 experiments were carried out on the farm of Dalchork, but 

 early in the summer of 1873 steam-ploughing was commenced 

 on the stretch of land specially reported on by Mr Murray, and 

 lying nearly in the form of an angle between Loch Shin and the 

 river Tirry. Here the huge plough, made specially for the 

 reclamations by Messrs Fowler & Co., was kept almost con- 

 stantly at work when weather permitted during four successive 

 years, having in that time turned over 1829 acres, or an average 

 of fully 457 acres each year. 



At this stage a few words as to the character of the land at 

 Slmiess may be of interest. It has been seen that the stretch of 

 land recommended for reclamation by Mr ]\Iurray, and which 

 has all been made arable, lies in the form of a rough angle, 

 bounded on the south-west by Loch Shin, and on the south-east 

 by the river Tirry. An undulating ridge runs along the centre 



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