S08 FIELD AND FERN. 



and wedders, of which he keeps many hundreds on 

 turnips all the winter principally in the neighbour- 

 hood of Perth, to the Glasgow and Edinburgh mar- 

 kets. He buys most of his fat stock in Fifeshire, but 

 deals largely with the Forfarshire, Perthshire, and 

 Stirlingshire men as well. The largest sheep-farmers 

 in Argyleshire are said to be John M'Kay of Succoth 

 and Martin of Loctraig ; and the Perthshire stocks of 

 the Bichmonds of Balhaldie and Dron, Elliot of 

 Laighwood, and White of Glen Prossan will run from 

 eight to ten thousand. The blackfaced stocks 

 throughout the two counties range from one to four 

 thousand. White of Glen Prossan and Mrs. Ken- 

 nedy of Glenniaye (on the Grampians) have per- 

 haps the best blackfaced wedders, which are simply 

 Lanark lambs kept for three years. The cast ewes 

 are generally sold at home, and many of them go as 

 " grit ewes" to the House of Muir market, and are 

 bought up by those who have grass parks. Both 

 1816 and 1818 were years of grievous loss for lambs 

 from snow and starvation ; and in 1860 they were 

 taken off the braes altogether to the low countries, 

 and then they travelled with the greatest difficulty. 



We had no such difficulty, as we fell in with a good 

 lift back from the braes to Callander, and then spent 

 the afternoon in a sort of mountainous journey past 

 the "Old Woman's Burn" (so called from one 

 who was drowned there), after McLaren's cow which 

 was first in her Highland Society class at Perth, and 

 first also at Glasgow as a heifer. Mr. Gourlay Steell 



