COUNTIES OF EOSS AND CROMAKTY. 135 



preventing the plants from being thrown out by the action of 

 the frost. It is now twenty-three years since the piece of land 

 these remarks refer to was laid down as permanent pasture, and 

 since then it has not been broken up. But thirteen, ten, and 

 nine years ago it was re-sown with the same mixture of seeds as 

 at first, with the exception of rape, cowgrass, timothy, and 

 trefoil, and top-dressed with 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, 1 cwt. super- 

 phosphate, and 3 cwt. bone meal, and afterwards rolled about 

 the end of April. Before being re-sown the land was gone 

 over with heavy iron harrows to loosen and tear up the fog with 

 "which the ground had become overrun, especially the poorer soils. 

 The fact of the land having been under sheep made it run much 

 more quickly to fog than if it had been grazed by cattle and 

 horses. By the above method, however, the pasture was renewed 

 at less expense and more satisfactorily than if had been broken 

 up and put through another complete rotation, which would have 

 necessitated a lapse of six years before the pasture would have 

 reached its previous richness. And besides this, the breaking up 

 of the land would have created an eyesore in the pleasure 

 grounds. The other portions of the ground which were of a 

 better quality were first cropped with turnips, laid down with a 

 compost of pulverised earth and lime in proportion of a cubic 

 yard of peat earth to 6 cwt. of English lime, mixed together 

 several months before being used. Of this mixture 28 loads 

 were given to the acre, along with 1 cwt. Peruvian guano, 2 cwt. 

 bone meal, and 2 cwt. of the best dissolved bones. The turnips 

 were eaten off by sheep, and in spring oats were sown which 

 yielded at the rate of 6 quarters to the acre with a heavy crop of 

 straw. After harvest the land was ploughed, and in spring 

 grubbed and harrowed, and in May sown with grass seeds of the 

 same variety and quantity as already mentioned, mixed with a 

 bushel of barley to the acre, for the purpose of sheltering the plants 

 while young. At the sowing of the seed the land was top-dressed 

 with 3 cwt. bone meal, 1 cwt. Peruvian guano, and 2 cwt. best 

 superphosphate of lime. The grasses came away so rapidly that 

 sheep were pastured on the land about the end of July. Since 

 first sown out, the better land was treated in the same way as 

 the lighter soils. Por several years back cattle have grazed 

 upon these permanent pasture lands from the beginning of July 

 till the middle of September, which has greatly improved the 

 gi-asses as wintering for sheep, and has destroyed the fog and 

 strong tul'ts of natural grasses which sheep do not eat. Old as 

 the pasture now is, it still continues good, but the poorer parts 

 and the portions most overrun with fog will be re-sown and top- 

 dressed as formerly. 



The portion of the reclaimed land not included in what Mr 

 Matheson holds in his own hands was laid out in carefully 



