ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 81 



caused l)y List winter to tlie otlier portion of the county of Sutlier- 

 liuul cannot be much under that amount. The estimates vary 

 from one to three and a half years' rent ; the average, with tlie 

 exceptions referred to, being perhaps about two and a half years' 

 rent, — or, say from 14s. to 15s. for every sheep for which rent 

 is ]iaid. Along the coast, particularly the west coast, the snow- 

 fall was not so great as to prevent sheep from getting at the 

 pasture by their own exertions; but the whole of the interior 

 of the county lying east of a line drawn from Loch EriboU to 

 Loch Shin was enveloped in a deep covering of snow for nearly 

 four months. On the higher mossy table-lands, 3 feet of closely- 

 packed frost-bound snow lay for three months. In these regions 

 the severity of the winter, of course, made the greatest havoc. 

 IVfr Purves, Iihifail, states that three years' rent, or £2700, 

 \\ould not cover the loss caused to him by the severe winter. 

 He had to remove all his sheep to railway stations and to 

 Caithness, the shortest distance being over 20 miles, and had to 

 hand-feed them \vith hay, grain, &c., for ten weeks, at a cost of 

 over £1000. His loss by death was fully £1200 over that in 

 ordinary years; wliile he had aboiit 1000 fewer lambs and one- 

 third less wool. Other two extensive farmers on the north 

 coast estimate the loss at three and a half years' rent, the de- 

 ficiency in the crop of lambs being estimated at 63 per cent. 

 Not only was the crop of lambs reduced by the severe winter ts 

 one-half the average number, but a much greater proportion 

 than usual of those that did survive have had to be sold as 

 " shotts." Indeed, tlie whole crop is of inferior quality, and 

 can never fully attain to the standard of their respective Hocks. 

 A large number of the lambs were so weak when weaned this 

 year, that they had to be sent directly from their mothers to 

 gTass on arable land in the county or elsewhere, which has 

 added about 2s. 6d. a-liead to the usual cost of wintering, 

 bringing it up to fully lis. a-head. On one farm on the 

 east coast, a flock of 500 ewes reared only 50 lambs ; while of 

 the ewes, only 200 sur\dved the winter and spring. On another 

 farm on the same side of the county, a whole flock of 500 

 lambs, with the exception of 40, succumbed to tlie storm. The 

 amount of hay, cake, gratn, and other food consumed in the 

 county during the three months of the storm, was extraordinary ; 

 special trains ha\'irKj' been run on the Highland Eailway every 

 other day conveying hay from Koss and Inverness. The outlay 

 on hand-feeding alone amounted, in some instances, to from 12s. 

 to 14s. a-head. Perhaps no stock in the county was so well 

 carried through the storm as that of the Master of Blant^Tc. 

 He kept his sheep going during the first month of the snow- 

 storm by clearing roads by men and shovels in the rankest 

 heather ; and also by clearing, every second or third day, a 



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