96 FIELD AND PERN. 



the skull of his faithful retriever ' c Leo" is with him 

 in his coffin. 



Morayshire grows all cereals well, on its fine, sandy 

 loam, and the heart of its farming commences with 

 Dyke parish on the banks of the Findhorn, arid ex- 

 tends to the Spey. It is the peculiarity of its pas- 

 tures that they improve beasts faster than any in the 

 north of Scotland for the first six weeks of the grass ; 

 but if the season becomes dry, farmers have a very 

 hard time of it, and there is quite a Curtian gulf be- 

 tween Midsummer and the turnips. It w r ould require 

 such a breadth of tares to carry on in July and August, 

 that feeders have sometimes very little option but to 

 sell off or starve on, and naturally choose the former. 



" Take care of your money with the Morayshire men 3 

 is a true saying, as they are dear and hard sellers : 

 and M'Combie has to burnish up his armour when he 

 comes among them. They are gradually extending 

 their grass, and turning from white crops to spotted 

 beasts, of which thirty years ago there was hardly 

 one in the county. Latterly they have been going 

 pretty deeply into sheep; and thus the turnip land 

 levy on the manure-heap increases, while that for 

 the wheat season lessens. The Morayshire " horned 

 beasts," which had a slight cross of West Highland in 

 them, have quite vanished into space. They were 

 chiefly black ; and Lord Haddington was so fond of 

 them, that for fifteen years he gave a great lean- 

 stock dealer a commission for 60 or 100 of them at 

 Elgin fair, and would have no others at Tyningham 



