COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIEN. 39 



£126. Casual labour for hoe and harvest for the past twenty-five 

 years varied from £30 to £40 a year. This indicates pretty clearly 

 the rise of wages since 1857. Mr Young erected farm servants' 

 cottages, for which he is paid by proprietor at the end of the 

 lease. The fallowing of land was abandoned some thirty years 

 ago in this district, when turnips became an established article 

 of food for cattle. Swedes are grown to the extent of two- 

 thirds of the shift, yellow turnips one-third ; wheat about 33 

 acres, barley 33 acres, and oats 33 acres. Wheat, as a rule, 

 pays better than barley or oats. Mr Young, contrary to most 

 of the other farmers in the district, thrashes the bulk of his cereals 

 with a horse mill in wet weather, when the land is unworkable, 

 which keep down expenses that are necessarily involved when 

 portable mills are brought into requisition. The majority of 

 farmers in Duff'us thrash out their barley in the fall of the year 

 with portable mills, especially on the drier soils. 



A little further westwards are the farms of Surradale, 184 

 acres in extent, and £500 rental, and Orchardfield, 127 acres, 

 and £240 rental, occupied by Mr James Adam. The farm of 

 Thornhill, 195 acres, and £210, 10s. rental, in the parish of 

 Elgin, was also in possession of Mr Adam. The former two are 

 wrought as one farm, and all the three consist of purely arable 

 land. The Duffus rental runs from 25s. to 35s. and the 

 Thornhill district from 5s. to 25s. per acre. The farms in 

 Duffus contain clay and black loamy soil, and on Thornhill the 

 soil is light and sandy. The Surradale farm yields about 6 

 quarters of cereals per acre, and Thornhill barely 4 quarters. 

 The quality of the grain on both farms is invariably superior, 

 and weighs over the standard weight. In preparing land for 

 the turnip crop Mr Adam ploughs it in autumn to the depth 

 of 10 inches, and cross ploughs it in spring, and cleans out the 

 weeds thoroughly. He gives it about 25 loads of farm-yard 

 manure and 6 cwt. artiticial manure per acre in spring. The 

 land for potatoes is prepared in the same way, and receives 

 about 6 cwt. of manure, consisting of bones, superphosphates, 

 and sulphate of ammonia, per acre, which is sown broadcast on 

 the drills immerliately before planting, (xreat improvements 

 have been accomplislied on Surradale by the proprietor 

 during the past twenty-live years. Mr Adam built an addition 

 to the dwelling-house in Thornhill, repaired the farm steading, 

 improved roads and water-courses, and fenced the farm partly 

 with stone dykes and wire entirely at his own expense. Very 

 few cattle are bred om either of these farms, but about 300 are 

 fed every winter. These are chietly polled and cross cattle, 

 which are housed for feeding about October, fed on turnips 

 and straw with 2 lbs. cake and 2 lbs. oats per day, and are sold 

 oil as they fatten. The farm horses have improved greatly 



