COUNTIES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY. 197 



tion a very fine stock of Cheviot sheep, belonging to the outgoing 

 tenant, Mr Mackenzie of Ord. Mr Eobertson considered the 

 elevation of Garbat too high for Cheviot sheep, and accordingly 

 he displaced Mr Mackenzie's stock by a very fine stock of Black- 

 faced ewes. He finds that Black-faced sheep thrive exceedingly 

 well in Garbat, and intends breeding them extensively. He 

 bestows great care on the selection of tups, and as a natural 

 result he is rearing some of the finest tup-lambs to be seen any- 

 where in the north. His first crop of Black-faced tup lambs was 

 disposed of at a public sale at the Muir of Ord, held by the 

 Northern Counties Pastoral Club, in September last, and the 

 prices ranged from L.3 to L.27. The lambs are dropped on this 

 farm from the 20th to 22d of April, and the ewe lambs are 

 allowed to suckle their mothers up till the 12th or loth of 

 August, while the tup lambs are left with their dams till the 1st 

 of October. The whether lambs and cast ewe lambs are sold at 

 Inverness Wool Fair, and delivered immediately after being 

 weaned. The better class of ewe lambs is retained for breeding, 

 •and are sent to winter in Aberdeenshire in the first week of 

 •October. The tup lambs are allowed to remain on the hills till 

 •October, and then brought down to Achilty, where they are kept 

 till sold off in the following September. If brought down sooner, 

 their horns would spring so fast on the rich grass, that the flies 

 ■would interfere with them, and spoil them dreadfully as well as 

 impair the growth of the lambs themselves. The ewes are kept 

 on the lower park of Garbat throughout the whole autumn. 

 Mr Eobertson has been well-known as a successful breeder 

 of Black-faced sheep for well nigh a quarter of a century, 

 and on leaving the .sjrazings of Xovar at Whitsunday, 1875, he 

 handed over to the Messrs Chutton of London a breeding stock 

 of 3000 Black-faced sheep at the large average (by valuation) of 

 L.2, 03. a head. Langwell and Glasstullich lie in the parish of 

 Lochbroom, and form a very extensive range of fair pasture, 

 rather mossy and wet, with a vein of limestone — which is said to 

 be traceable all the way north from Ballachulish — running right 

 through it. Mr Kobertson got possession of these farms in 1863, 

 and in the first few years he surface-drained a large portion of 

 it, and straightened the water-courses of streamlets by experienced 

 workmen from Wigtownsliire. He also got the proprietrix to 

 shift and embank the course of a river for about a mile and a 

 iialf, at a cost of about L.500, for which he pays interest. Ho 

 also erected at his own expense from four to five miles of wire 

 fencing, and pays interest on several miles more of march-fences. 

 The stock on these farms consists of Cheviot ewes and wctliers, 

 and tlie system of management is pretty much the same as at 

 Garbat, except that he rears no tups here, and sells no wether 

 lambs. The wether lambs here are sent to wintering in the first 



