COUiVriES OF KOoS AXD CKOMARTV. 133 



<ih'ains, This l>og is now so thoroughly drained, and tlie land so 

 consolidated, that a 6-incli pipe is sufficient to cany the \Yater ; 

 and the noxious substances with which the water used to be im- 

 pregnated have entirely disappeared. The land, too, yields excel- 

 lent crops both of cereals and of turnips. Indeed, the tenant of 

 Ballintraid informed us that he had this year upwards of 4 

 quarters of oats per acre from what used to be the most swampy 

 part of the bog. Mr Mackenzie was also sole engineer of this 

 important draining undertaking, and the complete success that 

 has followed his efforts must be very gratifying both to himself 

 and his employer. 



Mr Mackenzie gives details of the cost of reclaiming one of 

 the first improved sections of the property, and also indicates the 

 system adopted in bringing the new land into proper crop-grow- 

 ing condition. On this section, which extended to about 160 

 acres, and which was divided into fields, the average cost per 

 ncre of trenching was L.8, 13s. Ofd. ; draining, L.6, 10s. lOd.; 

 Wasting, L.5, 2s. 0-J-d. ; clearing off the stones, L.2, 8s. 3fd. — total 

 average per acre, L.22, 14s. 3d. The cost of all these works of 

 course increased considerably before the improvements were 

 wholly finished, owing to the general increase of labourers' wages 

 throughout the country, but these figures give a ]3retty correct 

 idea of the real cost of the Ardross improvements. The more 

 recently reclaimed lands cost about L.24 per acre. On the sec- 

 tion referred to, the whole of the fields, with one exception, were 

 limed accordiof^ to the texture of the soil with from 14 to 20 

 bolls per acre ; manured with composts of barrack sewage and 

 moss and vegetable matter taken out of drained ponds, and 

 Peruvian guano; and sown, some with wheat, others with oats, 

 and one with turnips. The yield was very good indeed in every 

 ease excepting one field, which was not limed for two years after 

 being reclaimed, and on which the yield of oats was nearly 2 

 •quarters per acre behind the average of the other fields. Wheat 

 averaged about 5 quarters per acre, and weighed G4 lbs.; oats 

 about G quarters, and weighed 44 lbs. The turnip crop was an 

 average one, and having been eaten off by sheep, was followed by 

 an excellent crop of oats sown out with grasses for permanent 

 pasture. Two of the fields, one sown with wheat and another 

 with oats, were at once sown out into permanent pasture, \\liile 

 <.)n two or three of the others turnips, manured with farm-yard 

 inanuie and guano, and then oats or wheat with seeds for per- 

 ]iuinent i)asture followed the first grain crop. The permanent 

 ^rass came away very well every season, and for several years 

 the parks were let at an average of about L.3, 10s. per acre. The 

 system of " breaking in" tlius brielly indicated has been followed 

 very generally all along, though in late years two or three slight 

 variations were introduced. 



