66 THE AGEICULTURE OF THE 



description of the farmmg system? pursued in the upper 

 districts : — 



" The average rental of the upper division of the county, or 

 more particularly that portion of it lying to the east of the Spey» 

 may be stated at from 18s. £o 20s. per imperial acre, and almost 

 every description of soil is found in it. The haugh lands, lying 

 along the river banks, are generally fine alluvial mould, with 

 liere and there a tendency to gravel, while higher up it gradually 

 gets stiffer, colder, and poorer, until the hillfoot farms are 

 reached ; they are found to consist very largely of reclaimed 

 moss. By far the greater proportion of the land is farmed in 

 the ordinary five-shift rotation, viz., two years grass, then oats, 

 next turnips and potatoes, followed by barley or oats with grass 

 seeds. About a twentieth of the whole area of the upper 

 districts is worked on the six-shift system, viz., two white crops 

 taken after lea, instead of one, as in the five-shift course. This 

 is found to answer well on strong stiff clay soils, and the second 

 or 'yaval' crop, which invariably gets a little artificial manure, 

 is, in many cases, better than the first crop. The first year's 

 grass is generally divided between pasturing and hay, probably 

 near a half of each; while pasturing altogether the first year, and 

 haying the second, is almost unknown. From 34 to 3(3 bushels 

 an acre is about the average yield of grain over the upper 

 districts, though of course in many instances the return is very 

 much larger. In exceptional cases in favourable years, as much 

 as 9 quarters, or 72 bushels an acre, have been yielded. 

 Within the past ten or twelve years the use of portable steam mill 

 thrashing has been largely taken advantage of, while now the 

 old portable engine is being entirely supplanted by the traction. 

 Stubble ploughing, or the first stage of preparing the land for 

 turnips, is engaged in immediately after harvest, and farmers 

 generally have the first ploughing finished by Christmas, after 

 which time lea ploughing is proceeded with. The second plough- 

 ing, or ' steering,' as it is called, is begun immediately after the 

 grain crops are laid down. If the ground is clean, the double 

 harrowing is sufficient to prepare the turnip break for drilling, 

 but in many cases it requires also grubbing once or even twice, 

 with additional harrowing, a fine mould being a great advantage 

 and assistance towards securing a vigorous braird of the young 

 plants. As much of the land as can be got ready by Whitsun- 

 day term (26th May) is generally sown in swedes, which after 

 that date are generally considered too late. Yellow turnips are 

 sown between Whitsunday and the last week of June. Most 

 farmers now, however, have turnip sowing finished before that 

 time except in unfavourable years, such as last year (1881), 

 when, owing to the ravages of ' fly,' and other causes, second 

 and even third sowing had to be resorted to. About 20 



