102 ON THE AGPJCULTURE OF 



20 cart loads of dung per acre, with 1 c\Yt. of guano and 2 cwts. 

 of bone meal. The manure made on the farm is usually supple- 

 mented by about 500 loads of dung from Brechin. Within the last 

 twenty-five years the proprietor has spent £1100 on far-ni build- 

 ings ; while the tenant has himself expended £300 on houses 

 and £200 upon draining. Only part of the land is fenced. 



As already indicated, a large part of the extensive and valu- 

 able property owned by the Earl of Dalhousie lies in this part of 

 the county. One of the best managed farms on the Panmure 

 estate, in the parish of Brechin, is Barrelwell, held by Mr David 

 Hume at a rental of £727. Situated within two miles of Brechin, 

 this fine farm extends to 400 acres, and lies on the northern slope 

 of the valley of Strathmore. The soil consists for the most part 

 of black loam, the better portion resting on a substratum of 

 limestone, and the less productive on a hard irony pan, which in 

 some parts comes so near the surface as to barely afford a full 

 furrow. The farm, which was held under one of the last of those 

 famous "live and let live" life-leases on the Panmure property, 

 came into the possession of ]\Ir Hume about seven years ago. Since 

 that time great changes have been effected, which have added 

 largely to the value of the farm. A handsome and commodious 

 steading was erected six years ago at a cost of between £2000 

 and £3000, of which £1600 was laid out by the late Earl of 

 'Dalhousie, and the remainder by the tenant. A great stretch of 

 fencing has also been erected, while a considerable portion of the 

 land has been re-drained, the proprietor supplying money for 

 these improvements on interest at the rate of 5 per cent. The 

 eight-shift rotation is pursued — three years grass, pastured all 

 the time, and two green crops. While producing good crops of 

 oats, often weighing 44 lbs. per bushel, and fair crops of wheat 

 and barley, the farm is evidently best suited for turnips and 

 potatoes, for of these it generally gives excellent results. 

 Turnips average from 20 to 25 tons, and potatoes from 6 to 9 

 tons per acre. The dressing used for turnips, all applied in the 

 drills, consists of 20 loads of dung, and from 5 to 6 cwt. of arti- 

 ficial manure, mostly phosphatic. Potatoes are similarly treated, 

 except that a portion of the break is generally dunged in the 

 autumn. The results are very much the same after autumn and 

 spring manuring. Mr Hume,however,devotes his attention more to 

 stock than to crops. Through the use of a very large quantity 

 of artificial food, for which he invariably pays over £600 a year, 

 he is able to feed a good many more cattle than the farm would 

 naturally carry, and thus the soil is being enriched by very 

 liberal doses of rich farmyard manure. The stock are generally 

 bought in when two years old, home-bred cattle being preferred, 

 the number required being made up of the best available class 

 of Irish cattle. Every animal of the cattle tribe on the farm gets 



