COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN. 95 



Throughout the upper districts oats are the most suitable 

 cereal for the soil and climate, and in these parts they are, 

 doubtless, the mainstay of both Moray and Nairn. In 1857 

 Morayshire stood seventeenth among Scotch counties in regard 

 to the acreage under oats, Nairn ranking twenty-seventh. At 

 present Moray ranks sixteenth and Nairn twenty-fifth. After 

 a dry summer a light crop of straw^ on the sandy parts of these 

 counties is generally experienced. On the more retentive soil 

 of the inland localities it is not so easily affected by drought; 

 but, on the other baud, the crop there has a tendency to suffer 

 from excess of moisture. The quantity of seed allowed per 

 acre varies considerably. On the stifi'er lands more seed is 

 required than on the ordinary light mould. From 34 to 36 

 bushels is about the average return in the upper districts, while 

 over the " Laigh of Moray " and the lowlands of Nairnshire 

 from 36 to 46 bushels per acre is perhaps slightly, but not 

 materially, over the general average. Throughout the whole of 

 both counties the weight runs on an average of from 40 to 43J 

 lbs. per bushel; it exceeds 45 lbs. in exceptional cases. The 

 return of straw varies with the seasons, but for every quarter 

 of grain from 23 to 25 stones, or from 12s. to 16s. worth of straw, 

 is obtained. From 3 to 4 bushels of grain is calculated to 

 sufficiently seed an acre, and, generally speaking, the value, 

 including straw and grain of each acre's return, would range 

 from £8 to £9, 10s. Perhaps more than £10 is obtained in 

 some exceptional cases. English birley, sandy, potato, pedigree, 

 and early Angus oats are the varieties most largely grown. 

 Sowing is the leading operation from the middle of March to 

 about the 20th of April. Oats are grown after lea turnips 

 and potatoes, and sometimes two successive crops of oats 

 are taken. This, however, depends on the rotation under 

 which the farm is worked. The five-course shift holds sway 

 throughout the upper districts of Moray and Nairn, and to 

 prevent the consequent diminution of the cereal crops, artificial 

 manure has often to be applied to them, as well as to the turnip 

 crop. 



Eye, Beans, ami Pease. — In 1857 the acreage under rye in 

 Morayshire was 766. and in 1881, 805, which shows an increase 

 of 39 acres. On some of the poorer soils there are considerable 

 stretches of it grown in both counties. There has been a very 

 much larger decrease in the extent of land under beans and 

 pease in Moray during the past twenty-five years than there has 

 been of an increase in the acreage of rye. In 1857 there were 

 153 acres under beans, and 56 in 1881, thus showing a decrease 

 of 97 acres. The extent under pease in 1857 was 181 acres, 

 and 33 acres in 1881, which shows a falling off of 148 acres. 

 In Nairnshire there has been a very significant decline alike in 



