THE ORKNEYS TO THURSO. 25 



eggs, &c., in August ; and in February for a plough- 

 ing competition. Mr. Balfour soon extirpated the 

 original breed of sheep as being utterly worthless, 

 with the exception of a few which have been crossed 

 with Southdowns for home consumption. The sheep 

 now on the island are Leicester-Cheviot or " half- 

 bred s," as they are strictly called all over Scotland, 

 to distinguish them from crosses. The cattle are 

 crossed with Shorthorn bulls, the pigs with the Buc- 

 cleuch breed, and the garrons with Clydesdales, 

 whose fifteen two and three descendants are gra- 

 dually supplanting the pony teams. The Balfour 

 Castle herd began with pure Shorthorns from Chrisp 

 and the Brothers Cruickshank. Females of nearly 

 " Herd-Book" blood, were added from Sir John Sin- 

 clair of Barrock, Sir George Dunbar, and others ; 

 and crossed chiefly with bulls from Sittyton, Dish- 

 forth, and Kingcausie. West Highland bulls have been 

 furnished to some of the smaller tenants, in order to 

 establish a more thrifty feeding race. Shetland 

 queys have also been purchased, for the sake of im- 

 proving the size of their stock, by better keep and 

 careful selection for crossing, as well as the pre- 

 sumedly enduring impress of a first impregnation by 

 a shorthorn. 



Strolling down the cunningly-receding walk from 

 the castle, and so through the old stone gateway, 

 with its grotesque carvings of syrens, satyrs in knicker- 

 bockers, and cats with bagpipes, we reach the short- 

 horns in Stronberry. Cruickshank's Artisan draws 



