COUNTIES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY. 183 



wurzel every year, and in a favourable season the crop is 

 generally good. Only from 6 to 8 acres is sown with carrots and 

 from 30 to 40 with cabbage, kohl-rabi, and rape, but tares are 

 grown pretty extensively. A great many crofters grow small 

 patches of tares, and on almost every farm there is a little corner 

 of tares for early use among cattle. The acreage under tares in 

 both counties in 1876 was 814 acres, and in 1854 it was 878 

 acres. 



Cattle. 



It has already been stated incidentally that Eoss and 

 Cromarty are not cattle-breeding, but extensive cattle-feeding 

 counties. In fact there are few counties in Scotland in which so 

 small a number of cattle is bred ; and on the other hand in 

 which so much beef is prepared. According to the Board of Trade 

 returns the number of cattle in Eoss and Cromarty was in : — 



Two Years old 

 and upwards. 



7,578 

 8,552 

 8,025 

 7,645 

 8,468 

 10,080 

 2,502 



The increase in the number of all kinds of cattle, especially 

 cows and young stock, during the past twenty-two years, as will 

 be seen above, is very great, but when it is mentioned that there 

 are barely three cows to every farm and croft in the two counties, 

 some idea will be had of the small extent at which cattle-breed- 

 ing is carried on. Probably several hundreds of the smaller 

 crofters keep no cattle, but with this in view it has been calcu- 

 lated that the 4G1 farms above 50 acres in extent do not average 

 more than ten cows each. The little breeding that is carried on 

 is confined chiefly to holdings under 100 acres and to farms on 

 light land. In fact, it may safely be stated that on eight out of 

 every ten of the farms on the latter class of land only as many 

 cows are kept as are sufticient to supply the farm with milk ; and 

 in a few of these cases the calves are sold off as soon as they are 

 able to stand the fatigue of removaL With very few exceptions 

 the cows kept by the crofters are of the Highland breeel, and 

 tliougli ])erfecti()n is yet a long way off, a very decided improve- 

 ment lias taken place in the crofters' cattle within the past (piar- 

 ter of a century. More care is now exercised in the selection of 

 cows, but it is mainly by the use of a better class of bulls that 

 the improvement lias been brought about. Several proprietors 

 have very wisely been assisting the crofters on their estates to 

 procure really good bulls, and recognising the benefits that follow 



