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The Country GentUmaiis Magazine 



pect to hear of even greater things than have 

 yet been accomplished in the reclamation of 

 the waste lands of Sutherland. 



Concentration is sometimes the best pre- 

 liminary to diffusion. It has been so in the 

 experience of the Scottish farmer. Settling 

 down in a good centre of operations, he 

 cultivates what he calls his " infield," and 

 takes the outfield at his leisure, according to his 

 means of reclaiming it. In the lowlands much 

 moorland ground has been thus reclaimed, 

 but in the highlands the " outfield " is chiefly 

 held as pasture ; but a farm of this descrip- 

 tion is usually the most profitable. In Suther- 

 land you will see very fine farms in the strath 

 and much valuable pasture on the hills, so 

 that both cereals and cattle and sheep may 

 be all cared for, and, if the crops fail, the 

 beasts may help to make up the loss. In all 

 probability, most of the new farms which 

 the Duke of Sutherland is laying out will 

 partake of this character. Instead, however, 

 of giving off so many acres of improvable 

 waste, and allowing, as was formerly done, 

 say ;^io an acre for every acre improved and 

 made arable, he is trenching, draining, and 

 then steam-ploughing hillside as well as moor ; 

 and although this will be heavier work than, 

 perhaps, anything yet attempted, the cost will 

 not, for everything, exceed, if it amount to 

 half that sum. In some, and, perhaps, in 

 most cases, fences will be put up and houses 

 erected as steadings, after which rents will 

 be fixed, and leases given on terms which will 

 allow a good margin of profit to intelligent 

 agriculturists. 



Turning now to the sheep farm, we find 

 that the proposed improvements are of the 

 most comprehensive and liberal description. 

 In the Deeside Highlands proprietors are 

 sweeping the sheep from the hills to make 

 way for the deer, but here the Duke of 

 Sutherland is caring less for the deer than 

 the sheep. Where land can be cultivated 

 with a fair prospect of profits, in goes the 

 steam plough; but where it would be a 

 doubtful speculation, there go the sheep. 

 And where can you find better pasturage than 

 on the hills of Sutherland ? 



But the question is now raised, can any- 



thing be done whereby the pasturage may be 

 improved, and the number of sheep on these 

 hills thereby increased ? In such a summer 

 as we have just passed through grass has been 

 plentiful enough; but in 1S70, and in many 

 other summers, herbage on hill and dale has 

 been burnt up. Then not only did the sheep 

 suffer, but there was not sufficient turnip or 

 other green crops for spring feeding, and 

 then mutton became both lean and dear. 

 To meet such a contingency as this, Brown's 

 new system of irrigation is being introduced. 

 That system, as is pretty well known, consists 

 of leaden pipes laid a few inches underneath 

 the grass, with surface openings at intervals, 

 so perforated that at a given pressure the 

 water let in will be thrown by pressure to a 

 height which gives a beautiful rainfall, and- 

 may be regulated by the hand to any extent 

 of saturation. Valuable as this process is, 

 considered simply as an irrigant, it becomes 

 yet more useful as a means of utilizing 

 manures, and it is the opinion of the Duke's 

 manager of his home farm that native as well 

 as appHed manure may thus be turned to 

 profitable account. Mr Brown, in his reports 

 for 1872, on the working of the system at 

 Stoke Park, near Windsor, and at Bishop 

 Stortford, in Herts, says : — 



It has just been introduced on the permanent 

 pasture lands of his Grace the Duke of Sutherland at 

 Dunrobin Castle, and the results there obtained by 

 manure applied to the surface so late in the season as 

 the third week in August, and so far north as Suther- 

 landshire, have been as striking as those in the south 

 of England. In the course of a few days the grass was 

 changed from what may be considered poor permanent 

 pasture grasses to the richest description of herbage, 

 which warrants the conclusion that the strath lands of 

 the highlands of Scotland may be reclaimed by this- 

 system, and brought from their present unproductive 

 condition to that of luxuriant fattening pastures, or 

 where hay may be produced in abundance to provide 

 food for sheep and cattle during the winter. 



Now, as there are many mountain lochs 

 and natural reservoirs among the hills, from 

 which water may be led by gravitation to the 

 straths and moor pasture, it wotild seem that 

 Mr Brown's idea may be to a large extent 

 realized. We saw the pasture to which his 

 report refers in August, when he was laying 

 the pipes down on two acres which had been 



