PERTH TO KEIR. 311 



ately over the '^hurdles in the beech-grove paddock 

 to answer Mr. Young's greeting, as we started on 

 our round. It was a lucky moment for him when 

 he espied her as a two-year-old at her breeder's, Mr. 

 White of Renfrewshire, as she has never been second 

 save at Kelso, and completed her score of firsts at 

 Stirling. A row of neat ploughmen's cottages, with a 

 butt, ben, and middle room, face the entrance lodge 

 to the steading, which is kept by the head shepherd. 

 The weighing machine is in the hands of his deputy, 

 and thus all the oilcake and artificial manures can 

 be checked on their arrival. On the left is the stack 

 yard, under whose wall the Scotch ploughs, all ra- 

 diant with green paint, stand in file, along with 

 rollers, grubbers, reaping machines, and haymakers. 

 The steading is built round a court-yard; every 

 division and passage in it has a separate letter, and 

 A to Z exactly suffices, So complete are the ar- 

 rangements that the very warmth of the engine- 

 house is turned to account, and the hens are lodged 

 over it, with a good plating of zinc between, to foil 

 the " lively fleas " while the engine is so close to the 

 smithy that the blacksmith can manage it by means 

 of a handle and an index. 



The freestone of the country has been used, and 

 the floors are laid with Arbroath flags, neatly and 

 closely pointed upon six inches of stone metal. 

 Nearly the whole of the interior walls are lined, like 

 the tower, for about six feet, and beyond that with 

 squared rubble, which avoids the necessity of plaster, 



