COUNIIES OF ELGIN AND XAIEX. 61 



making, and harvesting, there is difficulty in procuring casual 

 labourers, Mr Harris thinks that improvements might be 

 divided into two classes — firstly, fences, buildings, drains ; and 

 secondly, manures. With regard to houses, fences, and drains, 

 Mr Harris thinks it highly desirable that the landlords should 

 provide them all, so as to free the tenant's capital for the working 

 of the land. He put in a lot of drains some twenty-five years 

 ago, at the depth of 4 fv3et, which are still w^orking well. The 

 custom, in event of a tenant leaving on this estate is that the 

 outgoing tenant is paid for the waygoing crop, and when leaving 

 at Whitsunday is paid for the labour in preparing the land for 

 the turnips. As far as manuring is concerned, he gets a crop 

 wherever he has manured. The average rent of wheat-growing 

 land is about £2 per acre. Mr Harris grows wheat every year, 

 which weighs from 62 lbs. to 66 lbs. in good years. Day 

 labourers get about 3s. per day, and from 18s. to 2os. is spent 

 in labouring each acre. First horsemen get about £30 a year in 

 money and £8, 10s. in kind. Mr Harris's total amount of poors 

 rates is £16, 14s. 8d., of which the landlord pays the half : he 

 pays £7, 5s. for education rate, and £9, 16s. lid. for road 

 taxation. 



The farm of Wester Moy, tenanted by Mr William Mac- 

 Donald, is very carefully and judiciously managed. Mr Mac- 

 Donald can boast of one of the most compact farm steadings 

 and of one of the best kept holdings in the north of Scotland. 

 The farm is all arable, and is 135 acres in extent. The rental is 

 at present £306. The rental of the district runs from 32s. to 

 35s. per acre. The soil is good, and the climate favourable. Mr 

 MacDonald adopts the six-shift rotation. The average yield of 

 wheat is 5 quarters per acre, weighing 63 lbs. per bushel; barley 

 5 quarters 4 bushels, weighing 56 lbs. ; oats 6 quarters per acre, 

 weighing 43 lbs. After preparing land for roots in the usual 

 way, drills are opened 26 inches wide with a double plough. 

 From 3 to 4 lbs. of seed is given per acre, and in singling plants 

 are left from 10 to 11 inches apart. The manure applied is 20 

 loada of dung, 1^ cwt. of bone meal, 2 cwt. Peruvian guano, 

 and 4^ cwt. of best dissolved bones per acre. The estimated 

 cost of laying down an acre of turnips is £7. Finger-and-toe 

 sometimes proves ruinous to turnips, and especially on soil lying 

 on a clay bottom. Mr ^lacDonald has greatly improved the 

 drainage of his farm duiing the past twenty-five years. He 

 has levelled many open thtches, for which he used pipes from 6 

 to 9 inches in diameter. In the ordinary drains, pipes from 3 to 

 4 inches in diameter were useil. During the past twenty-tive 

 years the proprietor laid out from £900 to £IOUO in extending 

 aiJ'l improving the dwelling house, and about £.'»0() in erecting 

 a dou:>le cottage for two mariied servants. Mr MacDonald has 



