COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN 51 



light, coinparatively few drains are required, and these have been 

 executed by the proprietor and tenant. With the customary 

 conditions of exit and entry — entry at Whitsunday — the 

 duration of lease is nineteen years. Crofters hold their land from 

 year to year. The building operations are wholly done by the 

 proprietor, and additions to houses are mostly made at tlie 

 beginning of the lease. Courts for feeding cattle are built with 

 close roofs, those for store or young stock being about 

 three-fourths covered. On most farms there are two courts. 

 The extremes in the rental are about 10s. and £2, 5s. 

 Eents are all paid in money at Candlemas and Lammas 

 after reaping the crop. The majority of the farm servants on 

 the estate are single, but they are being well provided with neat 

 superior cottages, and married men are becoming more numerous 

 every year. The favourite breed of cattle among the Earl of 

 Moray's tenantry is cross, but there are a few pure bred animals 

 on several farms. For feeding purposes lots of cattle are bought 

 in, and in fact the majority of the feeding stock in the lower 

 districts are purchased from the south and more inland parts, 

 where the breeding of cattle constitutes a more important branch 

 of the farming husbandry. The first fat cattle are usually 

 marketable about Christmas, aud herds continue to be reduced 

 until the end of spring, by which time the feeding stock is 

 cleared out. In many cases the cattle receive, some weeks 

 before sending off, from 2 to 4 lbs. of cake per day. The pre- 

 vailing system of rotation is the five-shift course, but a few- 

 farms are worked on the six-shift course, as it is found to miti- 

 gate the loss by finger-and-toe amongst turnips. There are two 

 sheep farms on the estate, viz., Braemoray and Broadshaw, where 

 the pasture is a mixture of grass and heather. On these farms 

 the blackfaced breed of sheep are kept. Crofters number about 

 twelve, whose crofts vary in size from 4 to 8 and 10 acres. They 

 are mostly day labourers. About 100 acres of wood have been 

 planted on the estate since 1857. Mr Brown, factor for the 

 Earl of Moray, is tenant of the farm of Earlsmill. 



The estates of Westfield and Hythehill, the property of Mr 

 Hugh M'Lean, consists of 562 arable acres, 15 acres borders of 

 roads, and 08 acres of wood, or in all, 649 acres. The total 

 rental in 1862 was £1208, 10s., and is now £1140. The nature 

 of the soil on these estates varies from sandy loam to clayey loam, 

 and what is known as Moray clay. The size of the farms on 

 the property is 259, 121, and 184 acres respectively. On all 

 these farms steadings have been rebuilt, since 1862, at the 

 sole expense of the owner. The estate is well provided with 

 hedge and wire fences. Both public and private roads are in 

 good order. There have been no reclamations ell'ected over tl\e 

 [)roperty thuiiig the ]>ast twenty- five years, but the estate has 



