ON THE AORICULTUIIE OF TTIE COUNTY OF SUTIIEKLAND. 73 



weaker sheep are generally hand-fed on the grazing farm. Tlie 

 wintering for hoggs cost on an average 10s. a-head. Each "hirsel" 

 numbers from 400 to 700 head, according to the charact(!r of the 

 land and the class of sheep. Mr Mitcliell employs eight shep- 

 herds and three turnip herds. The death-rate is from 7 to 10 

 per cent. Every 100 ewes tupped rear about 70 lambs. Of 

 every 100 lamljs weaned, about 80 will be suitable for being kept 

 for stock, the other 20 being dead before marking or weaning 

 time or sold as "shotts." Of every 100 "sorted" lambs, 70 or 75 

 may live to be sold either as wethers or cast ewes. Mr ]\Iitchell 

 has expended a great deal of money on improvements on Tul- 

 rossie — on draining, liming, subsoiling, repairing, and erecting 

 fences and cattle slieds. He has also spent a large sum on sur- 

 face-draining, building houses, and erecting fences on Eibigill. 

 At Eibigill the Duke has recently reclaimed over 150 acres, 

 under similar conditions as those already indicated. The work 

 was carried out by Mr Crawford, factor on the Tongue district of 

 the Sutherland estate, and his son, and has been done in a most 

 efficient manner. Steam power was used in part of the work. 

 There were 85 acres under oats this year, and 30 under turnips. 

 Both crops were good. The Duke gives lime to his tenants for 

 the reclaimed land at interest on the price. Mr Mitchell has 

 also limed part of his sheep farm, and has observed great 

 improvement. 



Melness, the largest farm not only in the county, but, perhaps, 

 in the kingdom, lies partly in the parish of Tongue and partly 

 in the parish of Durness. It is supposed to extend to over 

 70,000 acres. It has been occupied by Messrs Donald and 

 William Mackay — father and son — for thirteen years, and is 

 rented at £1257. Mr Donald Mackay, as already stated, leases 

 the farm of Skelpick in Strathnaver, while, together, the father 

 and son pay upwards of £3000 of rent for sheep and arable 

 farms in Caithness. A few years ago, the entire extent of their 

 farms was close on 150,000 acres. It may, perhaps, be said that 

 they are, in regard to acreage, the most extensive farmers in the 

 United Kingdom. Mr Donald Mackay was a son of one of the 

 small tenants evicted from part of the farm of Melness (then the 

 property of Lord Reay) when sheep-farming was introduced into 

 the county. Beginning life in Caithness at an early age, IVTr 

 Mackay rose, step by step, and has achieved his present affluent 

 position entirely through indomitable perseverence and much 

 tact and ability. He and his son are, so far as known, the only 

 instance where the descendants of the evicted tenants have made 

 their way back to the ground once occupied by their forefathers, 

 Melness is almost all hill pasture, with but very little green land. 

 This makes it impossible to keep as many ewes as would main- 

 tain a sufficient wether stock, and compels the Messrs Mackay 



