98 ox THE AGRICULTURE OF 



now than some time ago. A good many cattle are reared up on 

 the higher lying parts from polled bulls and cross cows, but on 

 the lower farms few cattle are bred. A large number of one and 

 two year old cattle, mostly from Ireland, are bought in every 

 year and fed off when two and a half or three years old. There 

 are a number of very good sheep farms on the estates, the stock 

 consisting mostly of blackfaced wethers. The arable farms vary 

 n size from 30 to 400 acres, and the pastoral holdings from 

 150 to 3000 acres. There are few crofts on the property. The 

 farmhouses, as a rule, are sufficient and in good order. At the 

 home farm at Cortachy, Lord Airlie keeps a select herd of polled 

 Aberdeen and Angus cattle, some very good Clydesdale horses, 

 and has just introduced a small flock of well-bred Shropshire 

 sheep. These will afterwards be noticed. 



The Airlie estates may be taken as a good sample of the 

 general character of the Braes of Angus, not only as to soil, sur- 

 face, and system of farming, but also as to stock kept, the nature 

 and extent of the improvements since 1850, and the increase 

 in the rental. In the parish of Kirriemuir, which, including 

 the village, has a rental of close on £32,000, there are a number 

 of large w^ell-managed farms, mostly on the estates of Clova, 

 Glamis, and Kinnordy. On the farm of Sandyford, on the Glamis 

 property, the enterprising tenant, Mr Thomas Lawson, has for a 

 few years been conducting experiments on the growing of turnips 

 with different kinds of manure which cannot fail to be useful 

 and interesting to farmers. All along the foot of the Grampians 

 the arable land has been gradually moving higher up. Within 

 the last thirty or forty years almost every holding adjoining the 

 hills has been enlarged by the reclamation of lesser or greater 

 patches of moorland, carried out mostly by the tenants, but 

 partly by the proprietors. The land thus reclaimed is of fair 

 quality in some parts, and yields profitably; but, generally 

 speaking, it is of secondary quality, and has been only moderately 

 remunerative. An extensive farmer in the parish of Tannadice 

 states that there the farms range as a rule from 100 to 300 

 acres in extent, and that the soil is partly black loam of good 

 quality, and partly thin and of a moorish texture. The five- 

 shift rotation is the most general ; but a good many are now 

 adopting a seven-sbift course, three years grass, followed by two 

 grain crops, turnips, and oats or barley, with grass seeds. Under 

 this rotation turnips are found to be less liable to damage by 

 " finger and toe." The average yield of grain, barley, and oats 

 is stated at about 5 qrs. per acre, barley weighing 53 or 54 lbs 

 per bushel, and oats about 41 lbs. Potatoes, which are not 

 largely grown, yield about 6 tons, turnips 20 tons, and hay 120 

 stones per acre. Potatoes and turnips get all the farm yard 

 manure, and a mixture of about 5 cwt. of guano and dissolved 



