48 O'S THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND, 



more acres, at suitable parts of their farms, for the purpose of 

 providing turnips and fodder for their sheep in stormy weather, 

 or for bringing up the weaker animals to the level of the flock. 

 To enumerate all the various works on which His Grace has been 

 engaged on his wide northern possessions in recent years, would 

 be no easy matter. Probably no more concise statement could 

 be given than the following, which appeared in "Chambers' 

 Journal," in December 1874:— "Eailways in the Highlands at a 

 cost of upwards of £300,000 ; opening lime quarries and building 

 lime kilns at Lairg and Eriboll ; placing a steam barge on Loch 

 Shin for goods traihc ; re-opening and working coal mines at Brora; 

 erecting a large brickwork and manufactory of tiles, draining 

 pipes, lire bricks, &c. ; reclamation of land on a very large scale, 

 at various places, especially at Lairg, by means of steam ploughs 

 of novel construction and remarkable power; introducing road 

 locomotives and portable thrashing machines ; providing steam 

 ploughs for hire ; laymg oyster beds ; breeding salmon on a large 

 scale, and trying the effect of introducing the breed of such rivers 

 as the Tweed, the Tay, and the Thurso into the smaller rivers of 

 Sutherland ; gas-making from peat, and testing the value of peat 

 as fuel for domestic purposes, foi engines, lime burning, &c. ; 

 experiments for improving the quahty and durability of home- 

 grown timber ; trying the effect of pure water irrigation on lawn 

 and mountain grasses ; extensive planting ; division of shootings 

 and building lodges, with a view to increasing the number of 

 resident shooting tenants ; erection of saw mills and steam 

 carpentry works at Brora, capable of turning out every kind of 

 w"Oodwork necessary for building houses, &c. ; workshops at 

 Brora for repairing steam ploughs and machinery of every 

 kind." It would be impossible to guess at the outlay which 

 these numerous important enterprises may have cost, but it is 

 believed that during the eighteen years that have elapsed since 

 he succeeded to the Dukedom, he has expended on such works on 

 his estates in England and Scotland more than half a milhon 

 sterling. His Grace is gifted with a kind heart, a vigorous 

 mind, and a just sense of the maxim that property has its duties 

 as well as its rights. It is stated by one who knows his habits 

 intimately, that he "has his work chalked out to occupy the 

 hours of every day as it passes, and seems never so hapj)y as 

 when engaged in the ordering or development of some portion 

 of his large trust." 



Arable Farming. 



General Notes. — It has already been indicated that only 

 a very small proportion of the county is adapted to arable 

 farming. By a liberal estimate, that area is stated at about 



