ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHEKLAXI). 10 



fanning circumscribed tlic extent of their hill pasture, they were 

 chiefly dependent for a bare subsistence on the rearing of l)lack 

 cattle. As a rule they were " frugal and temperate in their 

 habits; in spring and liarvest they laboured hard, and the; sum- 

 mer anil winter were jjassed in ease, poverty, and contentment." 

 In these times land was let not by the acre, but by the ({uantity 

 of here it required to sow it. A boll of l^ere usually sowed an 

 acre ; and arable land was thus let by tlic l)oll sowing, while the 

 rent of ])asture was calculated by the numljer of cattle it would 

 maintain in the summer months. The arable land is reckoned 

 in penny land, farthing, and octos. The penny land is generally 

 allowed to contain 8 acres; an octo, of course, is 1 acre or a l)oll 

 sowing, but this varies in proportion to the quality of the land — 

 when of a superior quality the quantity is less, and vice versa. 



The wadsetters prevailed on the south-east coast, while in the 

 straths in the interior and on the western and nortliern coasts 

 the arable land was mostly let in small lots of from 1 to 30 

 acres or boll sowings, each occupier having a proportion of in- 

 tow)i pasture, while " the mountains and moory hills were 

 pastured in common by the cattle of the nearest tenants." The 

 wadsetters took an extent of ground equal to about £200 Scots 

 of valued rent, and occupied themselves from 30 to 50 bolls' 

 sowing, letting the remainder to sub-tenants in farms of from £3 

 to £5 rent, besides services which Captain Henderson says were 

 in some cases, unlimited. Mr Loch states that these wadset- 

 ters "exacted from their sub-tenants services which were of the 

 most oppressive nature, and to such an extent that if they 

 managed well they might hold what they retained in their own 

 possession rent-free. This saved them from a life of labour 

 and exertion. The whole economy of their farming — securing 

 their fuel, gathering their harvest, and grinding their corn — was 

 performed by their immediate dependents." In illustration of 

 this statement, Mr Loch gives in his volume an interesting 

 account of the rent payable by the sub-tenants of the farm of 

 Kintradwell for the year 1811, from wdiich the two following 

 specimens may be given : — " Leadoch, — Angus Sutherland — 6 

 hens, 6 dozen eggs, £4 in money, and 1 cover kiln-drying, 

 clearing hay lands, shearing 48 stocks, threshing 12 stooks, 

 30 horses for a day leaduig ware, 4 days' work in harvest 

 in cornyard, 1 spade and 3 spreaders of peats, and 2 days 

 repairing peat road. Cottertown. — John Bruce — 3 hens, 3 dozen 

 eggs, £5, Is. 3d. in money, and shearing 24 stooks, threshing 

 12 stooks, 2 days' work in cornyard, 1 spade and 1 spreader 

 of peats, 1 day at peat road, thatching houses, clearing hay 

 lands, 12 horses for 1 day leading ware, and half a cover 

 kiln-drying. The total amount paid as rent by sub-tenants on 

 this farm was, — in money, £145, 19s. 7d. ; victual, £21, lis. 3d. ; 



