COUNTIES OF EOSS AND CROMAETY. , 203 



Black-faced {clipped.) — Wethers, 3 J to 5 lbs. of wool ; Ewes, 

 21 to 31 lbs.; Hoggs, 3 to 4. 



Grey- faced Hoggs (clijrped.), 4z to 5 lbs. of wool. 



Bents. — The rent of the Eoss and. Cromarty grazing farms 

 varies considerably. For the better class of ewe land, or land 

 with abundance of green pasture, as much as 5s. a head is paid 

 for the stock the land is computed as capable of carrying ; while 

 for black heathy and highly elevated land 3s. a head is a very 

 general figure. Over both counties the average is probably a 

 little over (certainly not under) 4s. a head ; and compared to 

 twenty-five or thirty years ago this shows an increase of fully 

 Is. a head. A good many ewe farms, i.e., farms adapted for 

 breeding, have been very nearly doubled in rent since 1840, 

 while almost every ewe farm in both counties has been increased 

 at least one-third. Eents of grazing farms are paid in one sum 

 at Martinmas for the year from the Whitsunday preceding to the 

 Whitsunday following the term of payment. 



Shepherds. — The large majority of shepherds are married, and 

 live in cottages in the midst of the glens in which they tend 

 their flocks. Some of them have small patches of arable land, 

 and on these they grow potatoes and occasionally a little meal 

 for themselves and their families. The general rate of wages is 

 from L.18 to L.20 a year, with free house, keep for two cows, and 

 from ten to twenty sheep, 7 bolls of meal, and potato land free, 

 or an allowance of potatoes. The unmarried shepherds usually 

 reside with those that are married, and in these cases the married 

 men are allowed to keep three cows, and sometimes have addi- 

 tional allowances otherwise. When away from home with sheep 

 at wintering, their food and lodgings are provided either by 

 their employers, or by those from whom the pasture is taken. 

 Some have no allowance to keep sheep, while others have even 

 larger flocks than w^iat we have mentioned. Shepherds' wages, 

 like those of ploughmen, have nearly doubled since 1850, and 

 during the past few years they have been increasing rapidly. It 

 cannot be said, however, that they are overpaid as yet ; they 

 were considerably underpaid a quarter of a century ago. The 

 size of the '' hirsel " allotted to a shepherd varies according to the 

 class of sheep and the description of the land. Of breeding 

 stock they range from 400 to 600, and of wethers they are 

 generally a little larger. A few additional shepherds have to be 

 employed to assist in winter. 



Profits Tww and Tiocnty-fivc Years ago. 



We are inclined to think that sheep-farmers at the present day 

 do not make (|uite so much profit off their flocks as they did 

 some twenty-five or thirty years ago, though it is pretty generally 



