couxTiES OF Eoss AND ceo:nliety. 129 



L.31. A stock of about 700 Clieviot ewes is kept on Glen 

 SJdach ; and the wether lambs are brought down to Fodderty 

 about the 12th of August, and sold fat when about twenty-two 

 months old. Fodderty is worked sometimes with five and some- 

 times with six pairs of horses, and is, probably, one of the best 

 managed farms in the district. 



On the estate of Foulis, in the neighbouring parish of Kiltearn, 

 belonging to Mr Charles Munro, various improvements have 

 recently been effected, and the rental during the past eight or 

 ten years has increased from L.3200 to L.4083. The valuable 

 little estate of Swordale, the property of Mr W. Munro, has also 

 been very largely improved. 



The estate of Culcairn, belonging to Mr H. A. M. Butler John- 

 ston, M.P., and the iSTovar property, both in the parish of Alness, 

 have been improved in various ways by reclaiming, draining, build- 

 ing, fencing, and the like, since 1850, the rental of the latter having 

 increased since 1868 from L.2413 to L3124. Mr S. C. Munro's 

 well-farmed little estate of Teaninich has also been slightly im- 

 proved of late, and the rental has increased from L.1200 to 

 L.1590 during the past eight or ten years. On the Xovar and 

 other properties in the parish of Alness a great breadth of land 

 has been planted, chiefly with larch and Scotch fir, within the 

 past thirty or forty years, and now the extent of wood in the 

 district is very considerable. 



Easter Ross. 



This division is the most important in the county, and is 

 indeed one of the finest ac,^'icultural districts in Scotland. Leav- 

 ing Mid Eoss, we enter Easter Eoss, in the parish of Eosskeen, 

 and at once reach the scene of, perhaps, as extensive improve- 

 ments as have ever been attempted in this country by a 

 single proprietor. The honour of these undertakings belongs to 

 Mr Alexander Matheson, the respected Member of Parlieiment 

 for the county. This gentleman retired from the bustle of the 

 commercial world several years ago, and returning to his native 

 county, devoted himself to the promotion of the higher interests 

 of agriculture. With this view he, between 1840 and 1861, 

 acquired possession of several large estates in the county ; aod 

 some idea of the extent of his property can be got from the fact 

 tliat his gross annual rental is close on L.22,000. His more 

 valuable possessions lie on the east coast, and were purchased 

 from the Duke of Sutherland, ^Ir Eoss of Eitcalnie, Mr Munro 

 of liCalty, CJulonel Eoss of Cromarty, Mr Macleod of Cadboll, 

 and Mr Ogilvie of Corrimony. His possessions on the west 

 coast were purchased from Mr ^lackinnon of Ardintoul, Mr 

 Mackenzie of Inveriuate, Mrs Lillingstoneof Lochalsh, Colonel 

 M'Barnet of Attadale, Sir James Mathieson of the Lewis, and 



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