226 FIELD AND FERN. 



streak, black-and-white, and grey. They take the 

 form of the sire very much, with the exception of 

 the head, neck, and horn, and look pretty nearly as 

 large when yearlings as a West Highlander at four. 

 Perhaps for this county the cross with a pure Angus 

 bull struggles better with a hard winter. The charac- 

 teristics pair off precisely the same way, but the 

 colours are almost restricted to black and blue grey. 



Grass is not too abundant in a Grampian climate. 

 There is not much to speak of till nearly the middle 

 of June, and it begins to fail early in August. Since 

 Mr. Peter Geekie came, as factor, the Earl has adopted 

 the plan of laying down all his permanent pasture with- 

 out a crop, and it has so far proved a much more pro- 

 fitable method than the old one. There is no risk of a 

 wet summer laying the crop and rotting out the grass. 

 The sward is compact and firmly rooted before frost 

 sets in, and is consequently not so readily thrown 

 out, while it is better prepared to brave the winter, 

 and come away early in the spring. It stands to 

 reason that it should be better the second year for 

 more causes than one, but chiefly from the fact of its 

 not having been nursed and drawn up in the shelter 

 of a crop during the mild part of the season, and left 

 after the cutting of the crop exposed to the bleakest 

 and coldest weather. 



The following mixture of seeds was used by Mr. 

 Geekie in sowing clown permanent pasture without a 

 crop : 



Field No. 1 was BOWTL in April, 1863, after turnips. Before sowing, it waa. 

 carefully drained 4 feet deep and 24 feet apart j afterwards ploughed and sub- 



