THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



303 



the quantity of hay they would yield generally render- 

 ing them most unprofitable as hay producers. The ex- 

 traneous plants are abundant, dependent upon the 

 rocky subsoil : if of limestone, a larger number of 

 these will be present than in other soils; but generally 

 the closer it is cropped— tliat is, the heavier stocked 

 — the less these will become, and on this account these 

 meadows grow more gra?s herbage than would at first 

 be supposed. While, however, discussing the nature 

 of the grass of uplands, we must not pass over a kind 

 of meadow which is far more general than it ought to 

 be, namely, poor clays, whether of the upland or low- 

 land ; as this substratum is always the abode of a very 

 poor, or, as the farmer terms them, "sour," set of 

 grasses, amongst which might be instanced the follow- 

 ing— 



Avcna pralensis, meadow oat. 

 Ji)ac/iypodium pcnnalum, falsa brome. 

 Vromns erectus, upright brooie. 

 Briza media, quakiug grass. 

 Ci/nosurus cristatus, crested dogstail. 

 C'arcv, various species of sedge. 



Any one of these is sufficient to open the eyes of 

 the farmer as to condition ; still, if we look at the deep 

 clay lands of England — and we would now instance 

 the Oxford clay as an example— we shall see good and 

 bad meadows, in fact loams and sterile clays, side-by- 

 side, the latter being, by good cultivation, convertible 

 into the former. For in the old Braydon Forest, those 

 wlio had got possession of bits of land by the old system 

 of squatting have meadows producing an enormous 

 quantity of keep, whilst over their very boundary hedge 

 the herbage consists of the bad grasses just specified, 

 with a large admixtun; of orchids, cowslips, and plan- 

 tains — in themselves no bad evidence that the soil 

 requires all the exertion of the farmer for its ameliora- 

 tion ; in fact, it wants cultivating, and no circumstance 

 can show the importance of doin%- something for the 

 meadow more than the cultivated oases one so fre- 

 quently meets with in the wild stretches of our island. 



The consideration of irrigated meadow may well 

 form a paper by itself, to which we shall address our 

 next remarks. 



NOTES ON SHETLAND, AND SHETLAND AGRICULTURE. 



The termination of one of our many wanderings this 

 year, in search of bracing breezes, found us in the most 

 northerly part of her Majesty's dominions, and afforded 

 us an opportunity of instituting a somewhat hurried in- 

 quiry as to the condition of agriculture as there existing. 

 The results of this, supplemented from other sources, 

 we now propose in a brief series of papers to glance at. 



There is much that is interesting to the antiquarian 

 and philologist in the history of the Shetland Islands. 

 The Romans are supposed, on good grounds, to have 

 visited them, and to have considered them as the Ultinia 

 Thule, the end of the world. A still more remarkable 

 interest is attached to them from the circumstance of 

 their having been peopled by the Northmen, the Sea- 

 Kings of early times, whose wild adventures by sea and 

 ferocious descents on many lands have been recorded in 

 Icelandic Sagas. The islands, by these Northmen, were 

 called Itealtland, the high, or the lofty, land ; a desig- 

 nation admirably suggestive of the frowning sea-cliffs 

 which fringe the shores, and against which the mighty 

 surges of the Atlantic are ever beating, carving thera out 

 into many a shattered crag and sounding cavern. From 

 this name was derived the modern one of Shetland. 

 This, again, changed by the Dutch into Yetland ; from 

 which has been derived the name of Zetland, rendered 

 classic by the pen of Scott, and which affords the title 

 of an earldom. Much ignorance prevails as to the 

 exact relations existing between the Shetland Islands 

 and the other parts of her Majesty's dominions ; many 

 conceiving that they form part of the Highlands, and 

 that the people are Celtic in their origin, the Gaelic 

 being their language. This opinion is altogether erro- 

 neous. The Islands are in no way connected with the 

 Highlands: they are distant from the Orkneys 150 

 milfs, and separated from them by a tempestuous and 

 dangerous sea. The Shetlanders talk of Scotland as if 

 it were a distant country, with which they may be po- 

 litically connected, but with which they have no tie of 

 race or kindred. All the remains of a peculiar lan- 

 guage or of manners existing amongst them point clearly 

 to their Scandinavian origin. Their language — good 

 English, purer than in Scotland — is now and then in- 

 termixed with names and words which would be un- 

 intelligible to Celtish, but would convey a peculiar and 

 well-uuderstval racaning to D.mish ears. There is a 



foreign accent in it which strikes a stranger at once, and 

 tells him that he is amongst a people different from 

 those he has met with in Scotland. The tones of their 

 voices are low, somewhat sweet and pleasant, and con- 

 veys the idea of a race of gentle and kindly manners. 

 They are attentive and obliging to strangers, and hos- 

 pitality, free and unbounded, is one of their marked 

 virtues. As regards their social qualities, all we saw of 

 them impressed us with a high opinion. Absence of 

 that beastly intoxication which too often disgraces our 

 streets and pains the passer-by, was not the least plea- 

 sant trait we noted during our stay ; nor less marked 

 was the absence of angry disputation, and the bandjing 

 of oaths and debasing talk, which taint the air of other 

 regions. 



Shetland— taking this as the generic title— is formed 

 by a group of islands in close proximity to each other, 

 90 in number. Of these 32 are inhabited ; the others 

 small, and devoted to pasture ; and are of all sizes, from 

 the islet or "holme" to the rock of but a few yards 

 in extent. The largest island is called the " Mainland" ; 

 on this the capital of the islands, Lerwicke, is situated. 

 The length of Mainland is 55 miles, its breadth 25. 

 The southern part of Mainland is terminated by a pro- 

 montory called Dunseness — the termination ncss, in the 

 northern language, meaning a point of land or promon- 

 tory — the extreme point of which is called Sternburgh 

 Head, on which is erected a light-house. Not far from 

 this point is Fitful Head. Round this part of Shetland 

 the graceful pen of Scott has thrown a romantic charm. 

 The northern part of the Mainland is terminated in the 

 district of North Mavin. It is separated from the Mainland 

 by a narrow isthmus not a hundred yards in breadth. 

 "This singular isthmus," says a native and graceful 

 writer, " is called Mavis grind (grind signifying a gate 

 or gateway) ; and a wilder spot one need not desire to 

 meet with, especially on a stormy winter's day." North 

 Mavin is the most romantic part of Shetland, though 

 perhaps least visited by strangers because of its remote 

 position. Its western shore is exposed to the full force 

 of the broad Atlantic surges ; consequently the rocks 

 lie scattered, for the distance of perhaps a mile from the 

 land, in the greatest variety of size and shape it is pos- 

 sible to conceive, besides hellyers (low-roofed, dark ca- 

 verns), and arches innumerable. It is as ifone gazed on 



