174 THE AGEICULTUEE OF THE 



The turnips were all carted off. Next year a crop of oats were 

 taken, and the land was sown down with two bushels of rye- 

 grass and 3 lbs. of red, white, and alsyke clover to the acre. 

 Lime, at the rate of 6 tons, and 3 cwt. of crushed bones, were 

 applied and harrowed in with the grain. The oats were Provi- 

 dence, Barbauchlaw, and sandy ; and the average yield was 7 

 bolls an acre. The land was then pastured w^ith sheep, and soil 

 previously worthless would keep four sheep to the acre for the 

 first year. 



For fourteen years the land lay in grass, pastured with cattle 

 and sheep. Young cattle get no extra feeding, but those pre- 

 paring for the butcher get oilcake and Indian corn. About 80 

 cattle can be pastured on 100 acres for a few years after being 

 well laid down ; and 2^ to 3 sheep can be kept on each acre. 

 Sheep in the parks have no extra food, except a little in February 

 and March. About 160 cattle are fed every season. They are 

 grazed in summer, but put into byres in winter, fed with oilcake, 

 Indian corn, and bruised oats, and sold to Glasgow or to local 

 butchers. At present there are 12 pairs of horses, but while 

 the principal improvements were in progress there were 22 pairs. 

 There are twelve steadings of various sizes on the estate. After 

 fourteen years the land is again broken up, and the same process 

 as at first is followed. The yield is equally good after the 

 second process as after the first. The drains are working as 

 well as they did when put in, but in boggy parts or near planta- 

 tions they have required cleaning. 



The sheep are blackfaced, and Leicester rams are used with 

 those in the parks, which are chiefly old ewes, from which a crop 

 of cross-bred lambs are taken, fed off, and sent to the butcher. 

 On the hills the stock consists of pure blackfaced sheep. Eams 

 are put among the ewes at Martinmas, and removed at the New 

 Year, after which they are fed in the parks with turnips and 

 hay. Lambing begins in the parks on the second week of 

 April, on the hills about the 14th of the month, and a fortnight 

 later on Ben Lomond, the grazing of which Mr Orr Ewing rents 

 from the Duke of Montrose for £1100 a year. From this moun- 

 tain pasture the cast ewes are brought to Ballikinrain parks, 

 thus obviating the necessity to purchase stock. 



The new fields at Ballikinrain vary in size from 20 to 100 

 acres. They are fenced with stone walls, very substantial and 

 well built, and with continuous iron-fencing. The walls are 

 about 5 feet high, with copes of hewn stone embedded in lime. 

 The cost was 33s. to 36s. a rood. The iron-fencing has five bars, 

 four flat and one round, in four yard length hurdles, and the cost 

 was 2s. lOd. to 3s. a yard. The principal steading is a square, 

 of which the south side is occupied partly by the thrashing mill, 

 driven by a powerful steam-engine, and the east side by the stables 



