COUNTIES OF ROSS AND CEOMAllTY. 205 



sheep would /thrive admirably. But still we do not think that 

 the increase in the profits from breeding stocks have quite kept 

 pace with the advance in the rent of ewe land, and consequently 

 the owners of breeding as well as of wether stocks, have to be 

 contented with a balance of slightly smaller proportions now 

 than some twenty-five or thirty years ago. 



It is not alone of increased rent, w^intering, and other expendi- 

 ture that Ross and Cromarty sheep-farmers complain ; some of 

 them are beginning to find that their farms will not carry so 

 many sheep, or keep them in so high condition, as fifteen or 

 twenty years ago. Considerable portions of the grazings 

 are becoming foggy and rough and of little value as sheep pasture. 

 We could point to one or two hirsels which carried stocks of 

 from 1000 to 1100 over winter some twenty years ago, and which 

 will now winter scarcely 800. The cause of this, we believe, is 

 the covering of the land for so long a period exclusively 

 by sheep, without any Highland cattle being allowed upon it, as 

 was the case before sheep-farming reached its height. An ex- 

 perienced sheep-farmer says, " The land is gettiug tired of sheep, 

 and is needing to be cropped, and thereby sweetened, by Highlaud 

 cattle ; " and we have not the least doubt but the pasture would 

 be considerably improved by being overrun by Highland cattle 

 for a few years. The present holders probably could not afford 

 to try this experiment without the co-operation and assistance of 

 their landlords ; but w^e think that on several farms a few cattle 

 might be kept without lessening the stock of sheep to any appre- 

 ciable extent. Two or three farmers, in fact, have recently been 

 adopting this plan, and are finding that it is likely to have bene- 

 ficial results. Some farmers think that if those parts of grazings 

 that have become foggy were inclosed for two or three years, and 

 the grass allowed to rot on the ground, the fog would thereby be 

 destroyed, and the grass-producing qualities of the soil revived. 

 We certainly think some scheme ought to be tried. 



Pure Bred Leicester s. 



The Eoss and Cromarty sheep-farmers are very careful 

 in the selection of tups, and every year large numbers are 

 introduced at heavy outlay from the finest stocks throughout 

 the country. The large majority rear a certain proportion 

 of their own Cheviot and J5lack-faced tups, but the breed- 

 ing of Leicester tups is confined to a very few. Mr Hosack, 

 Docharty, Dingwall, has reared a few very good tups of this 

 breed for upwards of twenty years, and finds a ready sale for his 

 annual crop among the farmers of the county. ^Ir Hosack 

 began with J>lainslie ewes and a Polwarth tu]i, and has all along 

 been rearing from the original stock of ewes and strong well-bred 

 Border Leicester tups purchased at high prices. He has now 



