TRANSACTIONS 



OF 



THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. 



ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 

 By James Macdonald, Aberdeen. 



[Premium — Thirty Sovereigns.] 



Excepting Caithness, Sutherland is the most northern county in 

 the mainland of Scotland. It is situated between 57° 53' and 

 58° 33' N. latitude, and between 3° 40' and 5° 13' W. longi- 

 tude from London. It is separated from Caithness on the east 

 by a winding range of hills, and from Eoss-shire on the south 

 and south-west by the Dornoch Ilrth and the river Oikel, 

 and some smaller streams. On tlie south-east it is washed for a 

 distance of about 32 miles by the Moray Firth ; on the west, for 

 over -iO miles by the Minch, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean ; and 

 on the north, for about 50 miles by the waters of the Northern 

 Sea. In form the county thus presents five sides, the longest, 

 about 52 miles, being the south and south-west side, and the 

 shortest, aljout 32 miles, that on the soutli-east. The extent is 

 variously estimated — in the Keturn of Owners of Lands and 

 Heritages, at 1,299,253 acres ; and the Board of Trade Eeturns at 

 1,207,188 acres, or the seventeenth part of the whole surface of 

 Scotland. 



From the Parhamentary Eeturn of Owners of Lands and 

 Heritages in Scotland, compiled in 1872-3, it is seen that in 

 Sutherland there are 433 owners of land, the total area of whose 

 property is estimated at 1,299,253 acres, and the gross annual 

 value at £71,494, 7s. Though, according to this estimate of its 

 size, it is exceeded in extent by only four counties in Scotland, 

 Sutherland has the smallest number of proprietors, with the 



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