THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



307 



toward. But, as we have above stated, the con- 

 dition of agriculture throughout the islands is, as 

 a rule, at a low ebb. Many causes might be stated 

 to account for tliis ; space only prevents us to advert 

 to two or three ; as, for instance, the general em- 

 ployment of men in fishing, leaving many of the 

 cultural operations to be done by women. We 

 have more frequently witn'.'ssed women digging 

 and dragging a harrow than, men. The want of a 

 systematic rotation of crops ; the almost utter absence 

 of drainage ; the inattention to securing good and 

 abundant manure ; the absence of efficient enclosures, 

 and of the cultivation of the artificial grasses, inay be 

 cited as amongst the most potent of the causes of the 

 low state of agriculture amongst the small farms of 

 Shetland. 



As to rotation of crops, the following is the most 

 general : First, here (a coarse species of barley), with 

 the manure spread above after sowing ; second, 

 potatoes; third, oats, simply harrowed in ; ley (''an 

 essential ingrediejit in every good Shetland rotation") 

 follows this ; fifth oats; next here, which liegins the 

 rotation again. In liressay, the mode of cropping, 

 which has been followed from time immemorial, is, 

 oats and bere alternately in the in-field, potatoes being 

 raised once in every four or five years. In the parish 

 of Lingwall, an improved rotation has been intro- 

 duced : First, turnips and ])otatots; second, barley 

 with grass seeds; thiid, hay ; fourth, pasture; fifth, 

 oats. In Scolen — one of the north isles— a varied 

 rotation for the in-field is practised. First (1), potatoes; 

 (2), bere, with manure above; (3), oats ; (4), oats; 

 then commencing with potatoes again. The second 

 system is, (1), potatoes; (2), oats; (3), bere, with 

 manure below ; (4), oats; commencing with potatoes 

 again. The tliird system is, (1), polntocs ; (2) and 

 (3), oats ; (4), bere, with manure belaw ; then jjotatoes. 

 For the in-field oats and ley alternately. In North 

 Yell the land is cropped every year, rotation, bere, 

 oats, and potatoes ; but the land must be manured 

 every year, except to potatoes, which are always 

 planted in in-field ground. In Unst, the soil is excel- 

 lent, and capable, under good management, of yielding 

 highly-favourable results. The system of out-field and 

 in-field is carried out. The out-field is seldom 

 manured : it is turned over every alternate year with 

 the spade. Notwithstanding, good crops of black oats 

 are raised in it. The in-field — that nearest the farm- 

 house—is yearly manured, and in it they raise fine 

 crops of bere and potatoes. 



The implements generally used are few in number, 

 and rude in construction. Only on the best conducted 

 farms is the plough used — that being generally the 

 Scotch swing plough. The soils we examined seemed 

 admirably adapted for the working of Howard's wheel 

 plough, which, under good hands, would, we are per- 

 suaded, work wonders. The old Shetland plough is 

 fast disappearing; we saw only one Sjiecimen of it, and 

 that, not being in use, we hunted up from amidst a lot 

 of lumber in an out-housc belonging to a small farm 

 near Sculloway. It is an odd-looking implement, and 

 at best is only calculated to scratch the ground. It is 

 constructed entirely of wood, with the exception of the 

 rude coulter of iron. In appearance it is as unlike a 

 modern plough as can be conceived ; all that can be 

 said of it is, that it contains the rudiments of the 

 modern plough. The spade used in the Slietlands is a 

 queer- looking implement; but inefficieit as it looks, it 

 does work wonderfully well, an<l quick. " The blade 

 is very narrow," as we explain elsewhere, "and short, 

 about five inches each way, and tapers considerably to 

 the edge; the shaft is long and tapering, about 

 four feet in length, and is unprovided with a handle or 



cross. So narrow is the blade that no room is afforded 

 on either side of the handle to put the foot on, for 

 leverage, as on our spade. To obviate this, a little 

 above the blade a mortice is made in the shaft, into 

 which a piece of wood is inserted, this projecting on 

 the right side only. The method of using this 

 primitive implement is peculiar, and -with it land is 

 rarely cultivated by one individual; generally three 

 workers stand in a row. Pressing the blades into the 

 soil with their right feet on the projecting pieces, they 

 simultaneously lift the loosened part, turn it over, and 

 break it up with a few blows on its surface; they then 

 move to the right, and perform the same operation, 

 and proceed till the whole breadth is broken up. In 

 lifting the soil the two outside workers make their 

 spades tend with a peculiar movement of the body 

 towards the centre worker." The digging with this 

 spade is much facilitated by always working dow'uhill ; 

 at the lowest point of which the best earth accumulates, 

 in consequence, to a considerable depth. The harrow 

 is of a very simple construction, about three feet in 

 length, and with wooden teeth. Wo have seen it 

 dragged by a woman, as stated above, more frequently 

 than by a man. Rude as the harrow is, it is, however, 

 not used in some districts; but a still ruder substitute 

 adopted in the shape of a broom or heather besom. 

 The drill is almost unknown. We are not aware of any 

 corn drill being used in the islands ; and only of one 

 turnip drill — this being on the fjrm of Mr. Penny at 

 Bressay ; and so little was its use known at the sale of 

 a lot of goods at which it was put up, that Mr. Penny 

 obtained it for a mere trifle; it being looked upon 

 more as useless lumber than an article of utility. 



As will have been observed from the notices of rota- 

 tion which we have given, the crops generally raised 

 are oats — " bristle-pointed oats {^Avena strigosa), 

 perhaps, one of the most valuable varitties of dark 

 oats" — beans, and potatoes. The potatoes generally 

 are a good crop ; in the parish of Lingwall great quan- 

 tities lire raised. They are allowed to remain in the 

 ground till ciuite ripe. They are planted in drills, and 

 horse-hoed. In Lingwall the " ground fog " is often a 

 scourge to the potato crop. This is a species of exhala- 

 tion rising from the boggy grounds after a .slight frost; 

 it is seen to arise like the smoke from a great many 

 fires, and gradually extends over all the marshy ground. 

 Wherever it goes " it instantly destroys vegetation. The 

 potato crop in particular is ruined whenever it reaches 

 it. Not only do the stems soon wither, but the poison- 

 ous matters seem to descend into the bulbs, which ren- 

 ders them so unpalatable that some seasons even the 

 swine will not eat them." Thorough drainage alone 

 will get rid of this scourge, but want of capital unfor- 

 tunately precludes all hope of this being done exten- 

 sively in the Islands. Wherever it has been done the 

 advantages have been at once apparent. ISIr. Lay, at 

 Laxfrith, in Lingwall, has drained largely ; as also Mr. 

 Penney, at Bressay. Wheat, as a crop, has at 

 various times been attempted to be introduced, but 

 without success ; the moist and sunless skies of Shet- 

 land arc not propitious to it. All the corn crops are 

 allowed to remain till they are dead-ripe — a ferti'e 

 source of loss, for the winds which rise so suddenly act 

 as thrashers, and cau-e a large per-centage — in some 

 cases the whole — of the crop to be lost. 



Turnips, although a comparatively new crop to the 

 Shetlandcrs, is a very successful one wherever intro- 

 duced. The fly — the scourge of this crop in southern 

 districts — is here altogether unknown. The only 

 enemy the crop has is the mountain linnet, to whose 

 depredations we have before alluded. Crops of turnips 

 are raised on many a plot which would raise the envy 

 of manv a south- country farmer. 



