16 AGRICULTURE. 



vant of artificial boundaries. His habits of free ranging 

 are not very easily overcome. 



Having carried our readers to the Highlands, we must, 

 at the risk of being somewhat episodical, request that 

 on their return south they will accompany us to Falkirk 

 Moor on the second Monday or Tuesday in either Septem- 

 ber or October. They will there witness a scene to which 

 certainly Great Britain, perhaps even the whole world, 

 does not afford a parallel. On the Monday morning they 

 will see the arrival on this flat and open moor, of flock 

 after flock, to perhaps the average number of 1000 in 

 each, of sheep some black-faced with horns, some white- 

 faced and polled the individuals of each flock being, how- 

 ever, remarkably uniform in size and character. They 

 will probably observe that the flocks arrive in pairs, the 

 first being a draft of wethers, and the second of ewes, from 

 the same farm. Each flock will be attended by two or 

 three men, and at least as many dogs. They take up 

 their respective stations on the moor without confusion, 

 and stand in perfect quietude in little round clumps, which 

 are separated from each other by only a few yards. The 

 dogs are the main guardians, arid though they are generally 

 lying down and licking their travel -worn feet, no unruly 

 animal who breaks the ranks escapes their vigilance, but is 

 instantly recovered. Among the shepherds friendly recog- 

 nitions are taking place ; the hand and the mull are freely 

 offered and accepted, and the news from Ben Nevis, Dun- 

 vegan, Brahan, Jura, John o'Groat's and The Lewis is 

 communicated in a singularly soft language, strange to 

 southern ears. We doubt whether we do not much under- 

 rate the whole number of sheep thus collected at 100,000. 

 Mr. Patersou, Mr. Sellers, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Cameron, 

 of Corachoilie, will each have several thousands on the 

 ground. We have heard that this last patriarch has 

 50,000 head of cattle and sheep on his several farms. 

 The greater part of the sheep are in the hands of their 

 respective breeders, though no inconsiderable number 



