1154 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



The dom-rmik, or wooden tones, for drawing thistles, 

 differs little from those in use in England, (fig. "ibi.) 



832 



' 5. Arable Land. 



Tillage is in its infancy over the Hebrides, in all the isles 

 northward of Mull, exceptins half a dozen farms in Skye, a 

 part of M'Leod, of Rasay's estate, two farms in Uist, and a 

 little lately done in Lewis, near Stornaway, and by Campbell, 

 of Islay, on a small island between North Uist and Harris. 

 These improvements have been carried on within the last fif- 



It would be rather ludicrous than useful to describe the til- 

 lage generally practised in the Hebrides; and, accordingly, we 

 shall not dwell upon it, or insult the common sense of the na- 

 tives, by seriously requesting them to abandon the many barba- 

 rous customs which have so long disgraced their country. A 

 man walking backwards, with his face towards four horses 

 abreast, brandishing his cudgel in their noses and eyes, to make 

 them advance to their enemy, followed by a ristle plough em- 

 ploying a horse and two men, the three commonly altogether 

 superfluous, still followed by four horses, dragging clumsy har- 

 rows, fixed by hair ropes to their tails, and almost bursting their 

 spinal marrow at every tug and writhing of their tortured car- 

 cases. All this cavalcade, on ground unenclosed, undrained, 

 and yielding at an average little returns for the seed sown, and 

 sometimes lost altogether by the depredations of cattle, or by 

 accident in a late harvest, is a barbarous spectacle, whjch must 

 gradually vanish. It wiU soon give way, as it has already done 

 in Islay,, Colonsay, and part of Skye, to improved systems of 

 tillage. 



6. Gardens and Orchards. 



It is not to be expected that much should be done in garden, 

 ing in a district of which by far the greater part of the projwi- 

 etors are non-resident, nor is the climate suitable for that art. 

 The winds are too violent, and the sun too shy of showing his 

 face. Until trees and other sorts of shelter become, therefore, 

 more general, the gardens and orchards of the Hebrides will 

 probably be little more than an empty name. 



7. Woods and Plantations. 



In the sixteenth century it appears most of these isles were 

 covered with woods, and even so late as Buchanan's time. 

 One exhilarating remark, however, occurs to the traveller who 

 traverses those bleak and woodless recesses, amidst the melan- 

 choly impressed upon him by comparing their present aspect 

 with the description which he reads in Buchannan and Monro, 

 namely, that where trees have formerly grown they will grow 

 again ; and that any regions which were once sheltered and 

 adorned by the hand of nature, may still be in a far higher de- 

 gree improved and embellished by the industry of man. 



In Bute the late Lord Bute, in Islay Campbell of Shawfield, 

 and in Skye Lord Macdonald, have planted extensively and 

 successfully, and other proprietors are.foUowing the example. 



8. Livestock. 



The ancient Hebridean breed of cattle are now no longer to 

 be found. Some persons imagine it to be the Skye, others the 

 Mull, and others again the Lewis or Long Island variety. A 

 person habituated to accurate observations on cattle, can easily 

 distinguish those different breeds from one another, and all of 

 them from the larger breed now introduced into Islay, Colon- 

 sav, and some parts of the Long Island, especially Barray, by 



persons who pay attention to so important a department of 

 agrestic economy. 



Sheep. Only lately attended to. There are now three differ- 

 ent breeds to be met with in almost all the larger islands, viz. 

 1 . The native aboriginal breed, common to the whole He- 

 brides, forty years ago, and still more numerous than the other 

 two breeds taken together ; 2. The Linton, or black faced 

 sheep of the south of Scotland ; and, 3. The well known fine- 

 wooUed Cheviot breed. The historian Laing, has a large flock 

 of Merinos in the Orkneys. 



Horses. The Hebridean breed of horses resembles that which 

 we find in almost all countries of the same description of cli- 

 mate and surface. It is small, active, and remarkably durable 

 and hardy. It possesses the prominent marks of perfection in 

 this sort of animal, i. e. it is strong and nimble, of^a good form 

 and proper size for its work, healthy, patient, good tempered, 

 and very easily kept in good condition. It is found in the 

 Highlands of "Scotland, in Wales, Norway, Sweden, Switzer- 

 land, Tyrol, Hungary, and Transylvania, and, with little vari- 

 ation in shape and size, in all the hilly districts of Europe. 

 The average height of what are deemed sizeable horses, is 

 from twelve to thirteen hands, but that of the lower tenants 

 horses in Mull, Jura, and the northern isles, rarely exceeds 

 eleven or twelve hands. They are handsomely shaped, have 

 small legs, large manes, little neat heads, and manifest every 

 symptom of activity and strength. The common colors are 



fey, bay, and black ; the last mentioned color is the favorite, 

 xcepting in Islay and in a few gentlemen's farms, not ex- 

 ceeding two dozen in number in all the Hebrides, very little has 

 hitherto been done for bringing this breed to perfection, or 

 preventing it from degenerating. 



The breeding of horses for sale is not carried on to a consi- 

 derable extent in the Hebrides, nor does any of them export at 

 an average often years more than it imports, excepting Islay, 

 and perhaps Arran and Eigg. 



Hogs. Considerable numbers of hogs are now reared in the 

 Hebrides, where the ancient i)rejudice agciinst pork has gradu- 

 ally vanished, since their more intimate connection with the 

 Lowlands of Scotland and England. 



Goats, still maintain their ground on several islands, and in 

 certain circumstances constitute a valuable stock. But, wher- 

 ever wood is to be reared, and enclosures guarded and preserved 

 with attention, they must be banished; for, being more a 

 browsing than grazing animal, the goat will strain every nerve 

 to crop twigs and plants of every description, and is a mortal 

 enemy to every species of growing woods. 



Nerv species, or varieties of siock. Excepting the ass, and 

 perhaps the mule, it is not clear that this extensive region 

 would gain by introducing any new sorts of domesticated ani- 

 mals ; indeed, the great want felt by the Hebrides is not that 

 of animals, but ,of food in winter and spring for those which 

 they possess. The native breeds of cows and horses are, \)er- 

 haps the very best possible for the country to support, and may, 

 by due attention to feeding, and to selecting the strongest and 

 handsomest pairs as brewers, be improved to an indefinite 

 pitch of excellence. The breeds of sheep already recommended 

 and described may be improved, and reared to five times their 

 present numbers, without seriously injuring the agriculture or 

 other interests of the country ; and a vast accession of wealth 

 and food might accrue from breeding a competent number of 

 hogs, for which these isles, abounding in potatoes, are ex- 

 tremely well adapted. But all these improvements must go 

 on progressively and slowly, and they must sadvance in the 

 train of other agricultural and economical improvements. 

 9. Political Economy. 



Roads much wanted, and, excepting in Bute, Islay, and Skye, 

 in a very wretched state. No iron railways or canals. No 

 equal portion of European population, not even excepting the 

 Russians, and most uncivilized Poles and Croatians, possesses 

 so few manufactures, as the people of the western islands of 

 Scotland. This is, among other causes, a principal source of 

 poverty and depression of the people. It makes the little mo- 

 ney ac(Iuired by the fisheries, and drawn in exchange for black 

 cattle, kelps, and the other productions of the district, conti- 

 nually flow out of it, and prevents that gradual advancement 

 in wealth, comfort, and agricultural and economical improve- 

 ments, which are conspicuous in all other parts of Scotland ; 

 and although it does not absolutely keep these isles in a quies- 

 cent state, it greatly retards their progress. 



Kelp, is a well known Hebridean manufacture, and is in an 

 advancing state. Macdonald, of Staff'a, is distinguished for 

 his attentions to this branch of Hebridean economy ; and has 

 accordingly preserved for his kelp a character, which enables 

 him to dispose of it at a higher price than the average of the 

 Hebrides ol)tains. This results principally from its being begun 

 early in summer, its being duly attended to in the carriage and 

 drying of the sea-weeds, and especially its being kept clean and 

 unmixt with clay, sand, stones, and all other impurities, which 

 greatly diminish the value of kelp on many Hebridean estates. 



Sect. IV. Agricultural Survey of Ireland. 



7074. IRELAND, the largest island in Europe next to Britain, contains above 

 20,000,000 of acres, much less varied in surface, soil, and climate, than the latter island. 

 There are several mountainous or hilly districts, chiefly in Ulster in the north, and 

 Munster in the south, and very extensive flat bogs in the middle districts, and upland 

 bogs or moors wherever there are hills or mountains. All these bogs, whether low or 

 high, are on good soil, which, indeed, may be considered in connexion with the moist 

 warm climate as their chief cause. Nine-tenths of the soil is a loam on a limestone 

 bottom, fertile, or capable of being rendered so at little expense ; the remainder is 

 chiefly thin clay on limestone. The bogs are here considered as mere coverings to soils ; 

 their surface exceeds 1,000,000 of acres. The climate is milder and more equable than 

 that of England ; and with the dry soil, as Wakefield remarks, is admirably adapted for 

 pasturage and occasional aration, 



7075. Of the agricultural circumstances cf Ireland generally, we have already given a 



