COUNTIES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY. 179 



condition, a great many farmers top dress tlieir grass every spring, 

 mostly with 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda and 1 cwt. or IJ cwt. of dis- 

 solved bones per acre. If judiciously applied, top dressing grass 

 might be a little more remunerative than top dressing grain, but 

 still we do not approve of a very heavy dose being given to the 

 young grass the first year, especially if that grass is intended for 

 hay, as by the forcing the plants to too great an extent the first 

 year, the quality and quantity of the grass in after years are 

 considerably degenerated. A very heavy crop of hay is not 

 always the most remunerative to the farmer — at least on 

 moderate land — for if the land is too much exhausted the first 

 year the supply of grass the second year must necessarily be 

 limited. In aMvord, we approve of top dressing grass -land, but 

 instead of giving a heavy dose the first year, we would give a 

 moderate allowance the first, and a small the second. This 

 system is pursued on several farms, and found to work admirably. 

 About one-third of the grass land is usually retained for hay, and 

 the average yield ranges from 150 to 200 stones per acre. A 

 large quantity of hay is now used in feeding cattle and sheep as 

 well as horses, but on medium-sized farms a considerable portion 

 of this crop is sold off. The equality of the hay and grass in 

 Itoss-sliire is of the very finest, and in a favourable year cattle 

 thrive exceedingly well on the fields. The large majority of 

 farmers now sow the grass seeds by machines, but a few still 

 commit them to the soil by the hand. It would be impossible 

 to give anything like a correct idea of the mixtures of grass 

 and clover seeds supplied generally in these counties, as almost 

 every farmer sows a mixture of his own. In most cases about a 

 bushel and a half of perennial rye grass, and from 10 to 14 lbs. 

 of various kinds of clover seeds, such as red, white and yellow, 

 alsyke, cow grass, cocksfoot, &c. Mr Mackenzie, Dalmore, sows 

 the following mixture, and finds it to suit very well : — 



lbs. per 

 acre. 



Pacey's Perennial rye-grass 



(1 bushel) . . . .28 



Italian rye-grass, . . .6 



English red clover, . . 2 



English white clover, . . 2 



English yellow clover, . . 2 



lbs. per 

 acre. 



Cow grass, . . . .3 



Alsyke, 2 



Timothy, .... 2 

 Cocksfoot, . . . . 2 



49 



Pcrniaiunt Pasture. — With such a great demand for sheep 

 grazing, and with the high price of labour, it is only natural to 

 expect that very much more attention should be bestowed on 

 the laying out of permanent pasture now than fifteen or twenty 

 years ago. Indeed, we are not a little surprised that over the 

 north of Scotland generally the area of land laid out in ])ermanent 

 pasture should be so limited as it is. AVith an increase in the 

 cost of labour, during the past thirty years, equal to an increased 



