COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN. 19 



At the corresponding- period of last century, potatoes were said 

 to have been cultivated sparingly. They were scarcely ever 

 used as food for cattle. The seeds were planted 3 or 4 feet 

 distant from each other, and the medium yield per acre was 

 about 800 stones avoirdupois weight. The kidney-shaped potato 

 was most cultivated for the table. The sowing of grass 

 seeds was not introduced so early as the potato. The land in 

 the higher districts was not capable of producing clover in great 

 abundance until lime or marl was applied to it, and turnip and 

 sown grass have been about the same time in existence over 

 these counties. Clover was sown in quantities varying from 12 

 lbs. to 16 lbs. per acre, along with barley and oats, but seldom 

 with wheat, and was generally consumed in pasture. On the 

 larger and better farms the plough was kept going with a pair 

 of horses or oxen and a man, but on the smaller and more 

 insignificant holdings as many as six and eight oxen were used 

 in each plough. Cattle and horses were then of a very 

 indifferent description. The best cows were worth only from 

 £5 to £12 each. Except on farms adjoining hill pasture, few 

 sheep were to be seen in the country. Neither wool nor mutton 

 were of much importance. Away up among the hills, where 

 whole glens of arable land are hemmed in with heath-clad hills, 

 the blackfaced breed was pretty extensively reared, and each 

 animal was valued at 12s. or 14s. 



The leases granted to tenants were as a rule of nineteen years^ 

 duration. The rents were paid partly in money and partly in 

 grain. The office houses were generally built by the tenant, 

 who received compensation for them at his exit to the extent 

 of two years' rents. They were as a rule substantially built of 

 stone and lime, and thatched with straw or other material 



It would appear that the tillers of the soil were not then 

 sensible of the great advantages to be derived from having 

 their fields enclosed. About 1782, Moray and Nairn, like other 

 northern counties, were, it may be said, open from end to end. 

 It is stated that after the various crops were ingathered, the 

 whole range of country was put under the head of '' Common 

 Good," and all the respective Hocks of sheep and herds of cattle 

 depastured together wherever they might choose to wander. 

 Comparatively little food was stored for winter use, and cattle 

 were generally in very thin and weak condition by the return 

 of the grazing season. 



Till near the opening of the present century, farming ini}tlc- 

 ments were of the rudest and most primitive description. Tiie 

 old clumsy timber plough was in vogue among the poorer 

 classes till the end of the eighteenth century. It was made 

 wholly of timber, except the coulter and sock, exclusive of 

 which the average price of the plough was 4s. or 5s. The 



