226 AGRICULTURE. 



venient buildings, a climate singularly suited to green crops, 

 an unlimited supply of peat, and 500 cart-loads annually 

 of sea-weed for the manufacture of manure. The sur- 

 prising produce appears to result mainly from management 

 of cattle and manure, very superior to what is ordinary, 

 but anywhere attainable by the combined efforts of landlord 

 and tenant, and from the devotion of nearly one-fourth of 

 the farm to the potato crop. We lay little stress on the 

 latter circumstance. A man as enterprising and as intelli- 

 gent as Mr. McCulloch will always find some crop particu- 

 larly suited to his locality and tenure. It may be potatoes, 

 or carrots, or parsnips, or chicory, or woad, or teazles, or 

 flax. We once knew a man who, on a very high and poor 

 farm, made money by growing chamomile. The man, not 

 the place, produces such results. Mr. Caird gives us no 

 statement of the capital employed by the tenant of Auch- 

 ness, nor any figures which enable us to come nearer to a 

 balance than the account which we have laid before our 

 readers : but we see no reason to doubt that Auchness is 

 an instance of good farming that it pays well. Our 

 decided opinion is, that if all the landlords in Great Britain 

 were like Colonel M'Douall of Logan ; if they had farms 

 having the advantages of Auchness, tythe and tax free, 

 which they were willing to let at 14s. per acre ; and if, 

 moreover, they were willing and prepared to lay out eight 

 or nine rents on the farm, receiving 4 per cent, return ; 

 their tenants, as skilful and as highly qualified in all 

 respects as Mr. David McCulloch, might farm high with 

 much confidence, even at present prices, and find high 

 farming good. We cannot expect this to take place at 

 once, but in the meanwhile there is a great deal in Mr. 

 Caird's description of Auchness well worthy the attention 

 and imitation both of landlords and tenants. 



We fear that our readers will not consider that our 

 account of High Farming is on the whole very cheerful ; 

 but our account of ordinary arable farming will be still 

 less so. Before, however, we come to the latter subject, 



