146 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



to be had in the country, and usually feeds about 130 cattle in 

 the course of a year. But of cattle feeding more anon. Mr 

 Gordon also leases the large sheep farm of Cashachans, lying 

 on the Achinalt hills, and on the property of Mr Balfour of 

 Strathconon; and here he keeps a stock of Cheviot ewes. The 

 weak ewes and their lambs are drafted down to Balmuchy in 

 December, and fed on grass till the end of January; and in ad- 

 dition to this he buys in about 600 three-part bred hogs in the 

 month of August, and sends them to the Edinburgh market in 

 j)rime condition for the butcher in the end of April or beginning 

 of May. For the first w^hile they are fed on grass alone, and 

 afterwards they get turnips and a little artificial feeding stuff. 

 They are clipped before being sold, and wdien killed they usually 

 weigh from 60 to 84 lbs. a head. 



In noticing these farms here we have been cutting before the 

 point, and therefore we must retrace our steps a little. In the 

 parish of Kilmuir Easter, the fine old castle of Balnagowan, the 

 seat of Sir Charles W. A. Boss, Bart., lies snugly ensconced in one 

 of the most richly wooded policies in the north of Scotland. 

 The Balnagowan estate is spread over a wide district, and mea- 

 sures about 300,000 acres, of which about 8000 acres are arable, 

 400 acres under wood, and 288,000 acres under pasture. In 

 1850 the rental was about L.7000 ; now it is L.14,343. In 1850 

 no revenue was derived from fishings, and very little from shoot- 

 ings, while now from these two sources'" Sir Charles derives 

 an income of L.4035. The actual rental for farms and pasture 

 is thus about L. 10,308, which indicates a rise during the past 

 twenty-five years of a little over L.3000. The soil is generally 

 light, except on about 1500 acres, where heavy clayey land 

 abounds. The light land lies on an irony pan or gravelly 

 bottom. The holdings range from crofts of 1 acre up to farms 

 of 400 acres of arable land; and with one or tAvo exceptions, 

 they have all less or more pasture land attached. On farms of 

 above 100 acres in extent, the houses have been very much 

 improved of late, and now form a most creditable feature on the 

 estate. On the other hand, on the small farms they are of an 

 inferior class, built chiefly with stone and clay, and thatched 

 with " divots," overlaid with straw and clay. The proprietor is 

 turning his attention to the improving of these houses, and the 

 work is progressing rapidly. Since 1850 a good deal has been 

 •done in the way of fencing. At that time only a few farms were 

 fenced with dry stone dykes, but now, all the large farms and 

 many of the smaller ones are thoroughly fenced. About 10 

 miles of fencing has been erected during the last two years. The 

 roads throughout the estate are very inferior, and a moderate 

 sum of moDcy might be spent on their improvement with great 

 advantage. About 200 acres of woodland and waste pasture 



