COUNTIES OF llOSS AND CROMAKTY. 95 



lu the long run hedges probably form the best fence, and also 

 afford the most shelter, but they are slow in growth and trouble- 

 some to keep. Dykes are substantial, but expensive ; and on the 

 whole it is easy to suppose that wire would gain the most favour. 

 It is cheap, easily moved about, and can be erected in a marvel- 

 lously short space of time. Of course, the large addition that has 

 been made to the arable land during the past twenty-five years 

 has necessitated the erection of a good many complete new sets 

 of farm-houses ; and, in addition to these, great improvement has 

 of late been effected on the build inj^s on the old land. 



The systems of cultivation have also improved very much, 

 while better crops of all kinds are now grown. The supply of 

 farm -yard manure has increased, taking value and bulk together, 

 nearly thirty fold during the past twenty-five or thirty years, 

 while probably ten times as much artificial manure is used now 

 as there was even fifteen or twenty years ago. When these valu- 

 able stimulants were first brouLi;ht into this countrv a ci'reat deal 

 of talk and discussion was occasioned bv the hicrh-soundino: 



I/O o 



reports which were circulated as to their wonderful fertilising 

 powers. Guano was used extensively in several counties north 

 of the Tay before it reached Eoss and Cromarty ; and it was no 

 uncommon thing to hear those farmers who invested in it talked 

 of as extravagant, venturesome men. About the year 1844 the 

 late Mr George ^liddleton, Fearn (one of the ablest and most 

 enterprising tenants Ross-shire could ever boast of), and Mr Sim, 

 Scotsburn, better known in later times as of Drummond, agreed 

 ([uietly together to invest in a ton of guano, keeping their specu- 

 lation in the dark lest they should be made sport of for their 

 adventurous conduct. The guano did its work most admirably, 

 and greatly astonished all who witnessed its wonderful effects. 

 Small quantities of bones had been used previous to 1844, but it 

 was the grand success of tliis quiet unostentatious experiment 

 that gave artificial manure the first decided hold in Ross-shire. 

 The quantity of these fertilisers that is now used in Ross and 

 Cromarty every year is almost incredible. The percentage of the 

 arable land under turnips and potatoes is a little over sixteen, 

 and while very few give less than 4 cwt. to every acre under 

 green crop a good many exceed 7 cwt. The average all over 

 would probably be about 5^ cwt. And beyond all this, a good 

 many farmers speculate heavily in top-dressing, some of them 

 going even the length of an outlay of from L.l to L.l, 5s. for 

 every acre on the farm, apart from green crop land, for top-dressing 

 alone. 



During the first fifty years of the present century the ancient 

 primitive-looking implements of the farm gave way gradually to 

 a new and more ini2)roved set ; and now we find in Ross and 

 Cromarty the most modern agricultural implements of all kinds. 



