158 ON THE AGRICULTUEE OF THE 



Fishing and cultivating crops are the chief industries in the 

 Lewis ; but to the crofting system we will afterwards refer. There 

 are only thirty-six farms on the island, and most of these 

 are small, their total rental being L.482 7, 16s. lOd. On twelve of 

 these farms cultivation is carried on to a pretty large extent ; 

 on fourteen a few acres ars cultivated to assist in keeping the 

 cattle over winter ; on the other ten there is scarcely any culti- 

 vation at all. In the parish of Stornoway there are twelve 

 farms, upon ten of which cultivation is practised largely. These, in 

 fact, are the only farms on which systematic agriculture is pur- 

 sued in the Lewis. The rotation pursued on these farms is either 

 the four, five, or six- course shift, and the crops are oats, here, 

 turnips, hay, and the usual pasture for one, two, or more years. 

 Oats usually yield from 3 to 4i quarters per acre ; here or barley 

 from 3 to 3i ; potatoes, about 4 tons ; swedes from 18 to 24 

 tons; yellow turnips, 19 to 26 tons; and hay from 80 to 120 

 stones per acre. Of the twelve farms in the parish of Stornoway, 

 the total rental is L.1501, the smallest rent being L.35, and the 

 largest L.320. Around Stornoway there are twenty-seven parks, 

 let to townspeople at rents from L.l to L.3, 10s. per acre, the total 

 rental of these fields being L.272. There are also fifty-seven lots 

 of potato land of J of an acre and upwards in the neighbourhood 

 of the town, and these are let to townspeople at a total rental of 

 L.40, 9s. The other twenty-four farms are mostly devoted to 

 the rearing of sheep and cattle, and are apportioned among the 

 other three parishes as follows : — Barvas, eight farms, with a 

 rental of L.510 ; Lochs, six farms, with a rental of L.1093 ; and 

 TJi^T, ten farms, with a rental of L.1410. 



According to the Board of Trade Eeturns, the number of cattle 

 in Lewis in 1875 was a little under 12,000. On the farms in 

 the Stornoway district and on a few others, the cattle were 

 mostly Ayrshires, or crosses between the Ayrshire and other 

 breeds ; but on the grazing farms on the other parts of the island, 

 as on the crofts, the cattle are of the Highland breed, and gener- 

 ally of an inferior class. The Lewis farmers, like many of their 

 brethren in other parts of Scotland, breed too few cattle for them- 

 selves, and have too often to fill their byres with the inferior 

 animals reared on the crofts around them ; and thus they deprive 

 themselves of the full returns their farms are capable of affording 

 them in the shape of beef produce. On some of the better grazing 

 farms, a few Highland cattle of really good quality are bred, and 

 for these there is always a ready market. Some of the farmers 

 in the parish of Uig send off a fair number of good Highlanders 

 every year, and usually obtain good prices. Mr James Mac- 

 kenzie, who leases the largest farm in this parish, Lynshader, 

 owns the finest herd of Highland cattle in the island ; he sells 

 about one hundred head every year, and this season he obtained 



