BUTE AND ARRAN. 17 



distilling districts of Campbeltown and Islay, and the increasing 

 foreign supplies of wheat, which have rendered it more profitable 

 to grow barley. The change of crop has also proved beneficial 

 in another way : it has tended to the good of the soil, because 

 barley keeps the ground much cleaner, and does not take so 

 much of the strength out of it as wheat. 



The red land alone is sown with barley ; indeed, it may be said 

 that, with the exception of the moorland farms, all the sown- 

 down land is cropped with it. The variety sown is in general 

 that known as common barley, although in the north end, and 

 wherever the land is strong and in good condition, the farmers 

 prefer the " Chevalier " sort, as it is the more profitable. 



Experience has taught the farmers in Bute that home-grown 

 barley is ill- adapted for seed purposes, and consequently all the 

 seed is brought from Midlothian. The heads of the home-grown 

 seed become black, and the yield is not up to what might be ex- 

 pected. The Midlothian grain usually weighs about 56 lbs. per 

 bushel, and the average weight per bushel of the barley crop is 

 from 52 to 54 lbs. Barley harvest in a fairly good season begins 

 alx)ut the loth of August, and the crop in the south end is com- 

 monly hutted in the fields, and thrashed off the huts by the large 

 thrashing mills, two of which travel the island in circuit. In the 

 north end the crop is stacked in long stacks placed four abreast, 

 and containing about twenty cartloads a-piece. The mill stands be- 

 tween the two inner stacks, and the tops being taken off these, 

 the sheaves from the outer stacks are forked on to them, and from 

 them on to the machine. The outer stacks being thus disposed 

 of, the sheaves of the inner are then passed through the mill. 

 The barley straw on being thrashed is stored in long square 

 stacks, and is used during winter in various ways. Some of it 

 is cut into chaff, steamed, and mixed with meal and turnips for 

 feeding purposes ; the rest of it is used for " litter, " and a little of 

 it for thatch. 



Rye-grass. 



When land in Bute was newly reclaimed great quantities of 

 rye-grass seed were ripened and sold' for exportation. At that 

 time the ripening of rye-grass seed was one of the features of 

 Bute farming. Sometimes the yield per acre has been known to 

 be as liigh as G ([uarters. In 1853 the Higldand and Agricul- 

 tural Society's medal awarded for the best sample of perennial 

 rye-grass seed grown in Scotland, was gained by Mr James Duncan, 

 llhubodach ; and in 185-4 the same medal was gained by Mr 

 John Stewart, Baluachrach, in Commermenocli district. The 

 average yield per acre will not now be more than 2 quarters ; 

 the great majority of the farmers cut their hay green and 

 winnow it, and the ripening of it is only permitted on such farms 



B 



