DUNKELD TO BLAIR ATHOLE. 29S 



From Dunkeld we proceeded onwards to St. Colme's, 

 a farm which her Grace has held for some years, and 

 fitted up one wing for an occasional residence. The 

 Tay and the Tummell meet in the valley below, and 

 stretch away to Pitlochry and the Pass of Killie- 

 crankie, while Ben-y-ghlo rules in the mountain 

 background. About eight hundred acres of arable and 

 grazing land are attached to it ; and a great many 

 beasts, of which there is a large annual sale, wander 

 away among wood and fell, and are collected and 

 counted once a day. Dorkings, cinnamon turkeys, 

 and Aylesbury ducks collect in hosts at feeding time 

 in the yard. Mrs. Kennedy (the wife of the farm 

 manager, who was then very ill, and never rallied 

 again) was still more proud of the polished pine 

 wainscotings, and the beautiful order of the granaries, 

 where every grain seems to fall into its place. There 

 is a combined thrashing and winnowing machine, 

 with a travelling band to raise the grain ; and a view 

 from the back of the granary suddenly revealed an 

 Ayrshire "by a gold-medal bull, if he's not one him- 

 self." A sale of " Spare Ayrshire Stock," which is 

 probably the germ of an annual one, was held here 

 last March, and the six young queys averaged 16 

 3s. 9d. 



The train only ran as far as Pitlochry, the first 

 year that we were at Blair Athole, and we had an 

 opportunity of attending the fair there. "Parlies 

 were not up" that year, as they were on the one fol- 

 lowing, and the proceedings were anything but 



