164 ON THE AGEICULTURE OF THE 



fewer tlian 110 crofter townships, containing 2750 crofters, and 

 on many of these crofts more than one family reside. These 

 townships are in four groups. In the parish of Stornoway, 

 chiefly around Broad Bay, there are 942 crofters, paying a gross 

 rental of L.2393 ; in the parish of Barvas and part of the parishes 

 of Lochs and Uig, from Callenish to the Butt of Lewis, there are 

 1059 crofters, paying a gross rental of L.3247; in the south- 

 western corner of the island, in the parish of Lochs, there are 

 491 crofters, paying a total rental of L.1390 ; and in the western 

 corner of the island, in the parish of Uig, there are 226 crofters, 

 paying a gross rental of L.941. The total rental derived from 

 these 2750 crofters is L.7972, 7s. 4d., or an average of L.2, 18s. 

 from each. In addition to his croft each crofter has a right to 

 common pasture on the moors along the whole length of the 

 csntre of the island, which enables him on an average to keep 

 four cattle and ten sheep. The average yearly produce of 2000 

 of these crofts is about 8 bolls of meal and 4 tons of potatoes, 

 the soil on the remainder being so thin and unproductive that 

 the yield of both grain and potatoes is considerably less. Only 

 a very few pigs are kept, but a large number of eggs are produced, 

 and exported to southern markets. 



The system of cultivation and general management followed by 

 the Lewis crofters are even more strange than those purused by 

 their brethren in the mainland of the county. N'o regular course 

 of rotation is followed, and the system of manuring the potatoes 

 is, perhaps, the most primitive pursued in any part of Scotland 

 at the present day. The grain is not cut in the ordinary way, 

 but pulled out of the ground by the hand, and after being bound 

 up in sheaves the root ends are cut off. The dwelling-houses 

 are built purposely without chimneys, roofed with a close "sark- 

 ing " of sticks, and thatched with these pieces of stubble, which 

 are spread thickly, and held down either with straw or heather 

 ropes. To make the system imderstood, we shall suppose that a 

 house has been erected about the beginning of summer, and 

 roofed and thatched in the above manner. By the time winter 

 sets in another supply of stubble ends has been procured, and a 

 second layer of these is put on to keep out the cold and in the 

 heat ! When spring arrives the uppermost layer of thatch is 

 taken off and laid carefully aside, and then the lowermost layer, 

 which has by this time become richly mixed up with soot, is also 

 taken off and spread upon the potato drills. The layer of thatch 

 which had been laid aside is then replaced on the house, is 

 overlaid with another layer of stubble ends in autumn, and 

 utilised as potato manure in spring ; and from year to year this 

 strange old system has gone on for several generations. Soot is 

 well known as a powerful fertiliser, and the Lewis crofters find 

 it a most suitable manure for potatoes. Of course a good many 



