COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIKN. 57 



a good command of labour ; and thirdly, proximity to a railway 

 station. A number of half-bred and greyfaced lambs are 

 usually bought in in the end of the year, and fed oft' during the 

 following spring and summer. Those intended to be fattened 

 for market in spring require to be well kept, and receive a 

 liberal allowance of cake and corn each per day. The Clydes- 

 dale is the favourite breed of horses. They have improved 

 much during the past twenty-five years, and there is at present 

 a good class of horses in the district. Seventy acres is the 

 ordinary allotment to a pair of horses, but this is regulated by 

 the system of cropping and size of the farm. Farm servants are 

 mostly single, but there is a great want of labourers' cottages. 

 Wages have fallen to the extent of about £5 per year for the 

 past few years. When the present depression set in, they 

 stood about 33 per cent, higher than they did twenty years 

 ago. 



The farm of Woodside, 118 acres in extent, in the parish of 

 Kinloss, is also in the possession of Mr Eraser. The soil on it 

 is various, and altogether of secondary quality, including stiff 

 clay, moss, and vegetable mould, all resting on sand which crops 

 up here and there. It is wrought under the six-shift rotation, 

 viz., three grasses, oats, turnips, and barley. The turnip crop 

 gets all the dung made on the farm, along with about 4 

 cwt. dissolved bones per acre, which is all the extraneous 

 manure used on the farm. Owing to the three years' grass, 

 very fair crops are raised. Part of the turnips and all the 

 grass is consumed by sheep, and only one pair of horses are 

 kept. 



Perhaps the largest farm and one of the most skilfully 

 managed in this pari.sh is that of Balnaferry, occupied by Mr 

 John Mackessack. It contains 500 arable and 100 acres 

 pasture, for which the actual rent is £762. The extremes in 

 the rental for ordinary soil in this part of the parish is £1 and 

 £3. Some cowfeeders in Forres pay as high as £5 and £6 per 

 acre. The greater part of the soil on Lalnaferry is kindly black 

 loam with gravelly subsoil. The live-course shift is pursued by 

 the majority of farmers, but the six-course system is also 

 followed. On the best land wheat yields about o quarters, 

 barley 6 quarters, and uuts G quarters per acre. In a good year 

 wheat weighs 65 lbs., barley 56 lbs., oats from 42 to 44 lbs. per 

 bushel. It is chiefly chevalier barley that is grown in ^loray- 

 shire. After going through the ordinary course of ])reparation of 

 land for roots, Mr Mackessack gives from 20 to 25 loads dung, 

 with 3 to 4 cwt. bone meal, 1 cwt. Peruvian guano, and 1 cwt. 

 su})erphos})hate per acre. Potatoes are planted in the end of 

 March, and manured the same as turnips. Inuring the past 

 twenty-tive or twenty-si.\ years ^Ir ^lackessack has reclaimed 



