IN THE HIGHLANDS 189 



back and turning brown. This folding of the cattle at 

 night, though necessary for the production of grain, 

 was not at all good for the cows from a milking point of 

 view. These bits of cultivation were generally high above 

 sea-level and in open, exposed places, and as there are 

 pretty frequently on this north-west coast, even in the 

 height of summer, wild, cold nights with wind and rain 

 storms, the cows often suffered from the exposure and 

 from not being free to go and choose for themselves 

 warm and sheltered spots in which to make their beds. 



The old inhabitants of these inland townships had 

 also a way of growing potatoes as well as oats on the 

 cultivated patches away up in the glens, where no sea- 

 ware could be procured, and where it was impossible 

 to carry the manure from their byres and stables in the 

 township, because it was all required for the cropping of 

 what was then known as the " infield " land round their 

 houses. One way of growing potatoes up in the wilds 

 was by substituting bracken for sea -ware, and making 

 " lazy beds " of it where the soil was fairly deep and 

 moist. The bracken was cut with the sickle in Julv 

 when at its richest, and the ground given a thick coating 

 of it; ditches were then opened about six feet apart, and 

 the soil from the ditches put on the bracken so that it had 

 a covering of six or eight inches of earth on it. Thus it 

 was left for some nine months to decay, till the spring 

 came round again, when holes were bored in the beds 

 with a " dibble " and the seed potatoes dropped into 

 them. In this case also the sheep and the goats helped 

 in the growing of the potatoes ! 



In those olden times there were but few sheep kept. 



