50 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF 



the byre to their dams. "WTien three years old the cattle are 

 sold, and draw from £16 to £18 each off the grass. Galloways 

 in Arran seem to thrive as well as the West Highlanders ; they 

 are as easily reared, and when they come to maturity are more 

 valuable. 



Horses, 



The native horses in Arran were a small stinted breed ; seven 

 of them used to be yoked to the wooden plough, and they were 

 ill -kept and ill- trained. When Dr M'Naughton wrote in 1840, 

 attempts were being made to improve the breed. This has been 

 continued ever since with the most <^ratifvino: results. The late 

 Duke of Hamilton gave an annual premium of £25 for a number 

 of years prior to his death, for the services of an entire draught 

 horse, which was the means of considerably improving the breed 

 previous to 1860. From 1860 to 1873 there was no premium 

 Clydesdale entire horse in the island, and horse breeding was at a 

 very low ebb. About that time horses began to be very valuable, 

 and some of the members of the Farmers' Society, foremost 

 amongst whom was Mr Hector M'Allister, junior, Glaister, 

 seeing the benefits and profit likely to be derived from breeding 

 good animals, got the Society to move in the matter, and to 

 award premiums whereby owners of Clydesdale stallions were 

 induced to send their horses to the island : the amount of 

 service fee being, at the same time, fixed at a rate within the 

 reach of all. The following is a list of the entire horses, with 

 their stud-book numbers (so far as their pedigrees have been 

 registered), which have secured the Society's premiums since 

 1873:— in that year "Sir William Wallace" (803); 1874, 

 "Scottish Chief" (763); 1875, "The Chief" (857); 1876,"Lofty" 

 (462) ; 1877, "Earl of Arran " (263) and " Campbletown Bob" 

 (118) also travelled ; 1878, "Marquis " (1215) ; 1879, " Duke of 

 Connaught " (Dickie's) ; 1880, " Prince Frederick " (1504). 



Young stock have also been purchased in Kintyre for many 

 years back, and their produce has done a good deal to improve 

 the native breed. Horse-breeding is general throughout Arran, 

 and the annual fairs at Brodick in June, and at Lamlash in 

 October, offer favourable opportunities for disposing of the foals 

 and surplus stuck. The horses generally have improved in 

 quality about 50 per cent, during the past twenty-five or 

 thirty years ; these annual fairs are largely attended by dealers 

 from the mainland, and sales are often very brisk. On the 

 smaller farms the mare is kept working all the time she is nursing 

 her foal, but there must be very little for her to do during the 

 summer months. Foals in October sell for about £16 each ; in 

 1865 £7, 10s. was a common enough price. About six years ago 

 prices ranc^ino; from £20 to £28 each were in a few instances 



