COUNTIES OF PtOSS AND CEOMAETY. 79 



invariably bitterly cold, and when they prevail in s^jring the 

 young crops frequently sustain heavy damage by their blasting 

 ■ influence. It is the proverbial mildness of these westerly winds 

 that accounts for the temperature on the west coast being higher 

 during winter than on the east. In the districts of Balmacarra, 

 Strome Ferry, and other parts on the south-western borders of the 

 county, snow seldom if ever falls, and when it does it never lies 

 for any length of time. Here it rains almost always, as may be 

 seen from the fact that the rainfall at Loch Alsh in 1875 reached 

 the enormous depth of 6 feet 9 inches. 



In Easter Boss the climate is probably as favourable for agri- 

 cultural purposes as in any of the more southern parts of the 

 kingdom. The exposure in the main is southern, the soil chiefly 

 a rich kindly loam with good subsoil, while its j^TOximity to the 

 genial waters of the ocean renders the atmosphere around it 

 humid, mild, and equable. The climatic characteristics of 

 Easter Eoss and of the better parts of Morayshire are very 

 similar, and seed-time and harvest usually begin and end 

 about the same days in both districts. The soils, too, have 

 many similarities, though there is probably not so much stiff 

 unmanageable clay in Easter Eoss as there is in the " Laich o' 

 Moray." Harvest in Easter Eoss usually begins about the second 

 or third week of August, though of course exceptionally wet or 

 dry seasons cause considerable variation in the exact date of com- 

 mencement. On some of the earlier farms it began in 1876 about 

 the 17th or 18th of August, and was completed about the 16th of 

 September. Complaints were made towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century that the climate of Eoss and Cromarty was 

 gradually becoming worse. About the advent of the present cen- 

 tury it was argued that garden, fruit, and grain crops were well- 

 nigh a fortnight later of ripening than some twenty or thirty 

 years previous to that. In his admirable survey of the counties 

 drawn up in 1808, Sir George Mackenzie records a statement he 

 had heard that during the first half of the eighteenth century it 

 was no uncommon thing for new meal to be exposed for sale at 

 Contin Fair, which was held on the 1st of September, and adds — 

 "If our corn looks ready for the sickle then we reckon ourselves 

 very fortunate." He also says that about 179G he had ripe 

 peaches sent to his shooting quarters from the open wall in the 

 month of August ; while he adds — " I have not had them well 

 ripened since till the middle of September, sometimes later, and 

 often not at all." Whatever may have been the cause of that 

 decline, or what its duration, we do not know ; but there is not the 

 least doubt that since the advent of the present century the 

 climate at least of the east coast has improved very considerably. 

 Originally the eastern districts of Eoss and Cromarty were inter- 

 sected with numerous small lochs and swampy bogs, but since Sir 



