2 ON THE AGEICULTUEE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 



exception of the small divided county of Cromarty. It stands 

 thirtieth in regard to gross annual value. Of owners of land 

 whose property extends to or exceeds 1 acre, it claims 85, 

 while of owners of 100 acres and upwards (excluding railway 

 proprietors) it has only 23, the total area of whose property is 

 estimated at 1,297,301, and the gross annual value at £65,949, 7s. 

 Eleven proprietors exceed 1000 acres in extent ; the gross annual 

 value of six exceeds £500 ; while only three Sutherland owners 

 draw over £1000 a-year from land in the county. These latter 

 three are : — 



The Duke of Sutherland, 



E. C. Sutherland- Walker, Esq. of Skibo, 



Sir James Matheson of the Lews and Achany, 



Totals, . 

 Other 430 landowners, 



1,299,253 £71,494 7 



It will thus be seen that while it is not absolutely correct to say 

 that the Duke of Sutherland owns the whole of the county 

 whose name he bears. His Grace's dominions in the far north 

 have wide limits. He in fact not only o\\'ns by several times 

 the largest landed property in the United Kingdom, but possesses 

 more than nine-tenths of the fifth largest county in Scotland. 



The Valuation EoU for 1878-79 shows that the gross annual 

 value of the county, exclusive of railways and the royal burgh 

 of Dornoch, was £87,795, 3s. 2d. ; that the annual value of 

 railways amounts to £7144 ; and that the annual value of 

 the burgh of Dornoch is £874, 10s. ; making in all, £95,813, 

 13s. 2d. The Board of Trade Eeturns for the present year 

 (1879) state the area under all kinds of crops, bare fallow and 

 grass, at 29,441 acres; — wheat, 27; barley or here, 2268; oats, 

 7809; rye, 87; peas, 44; — total under cereals, 10,235 acres. The 

 acreage under green crops was — potatoes, 1929 acres ; turnips, 

 3232 ; mangold, 1 ; rape, 19 ; vetches or other green crops, 46 ; — 

 total of green crops, 5227 acres. The area under grasses in 

 rotation is 7617 acres, and of permanent pasture, exclusive 

 of heath or mountain land, 6102. Of bare fallow there were 

 260 acres. 



The Norse Teutons who, prior to the twelfth century, had 

 settled in Caithness, and frequently plundered farther south, gave 

 the name of Sutherland to this county, from the fact that it 

 formed the southern hmit of their possessions. Indeed, it is 

 barely a century ago since it was separated from the sheriffdom 

 of Caitlmess and formed into a sheriffdom by itself. It contains 

 thirteen parishes, and, in addition, part of the parish of Eeay 



