82 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



four, five, grass ; six, oats; ten fields or two fivt-s, 

 are tlius cropped— first, turnips; second, barley ; 

 three, four, grass ; five, wheat; the five inclosures 

 at Morvich in this course — first, rape or cole and 

 naked fallow; second, wheat; three; four, jrrass ; 

 five oats. He grows no ninrc potatoes than are ne- 

 cessary for tlie subsistence of the people employ- 

 ed, and these aj'e grown among his green crops in 

 alternate stripes of six drills of each kind. 



"On each of the two above-menti(jned divisions 

 of the tillage farm there is a suitable onstead of 

 farm I)uildmgs, and a j)0^ver thrashing mill impel- 

 led by water. On Cnlmaily r.re meal and barley 

 mills of small size, also impelled by water, for the 

 manufacture of his corn. 



" His whole tillage, as well as the transport of 

 his wool and materuils necessary for the stock land, 

 is performed b}- six pair of horses,'* a grieve or 

 bailiif, six plouoiimen, and a spadesman ; a second 

 grieve or bailift' to superintend the women, em- 

 ployed on the farm, a niilhvrigiit, and sixteen wo- 

 men for the two thrashing mills. In summer these 

 sixteen women, with fourteen to twenty boys and 

 girls, accordiiig to circumstances, in addition, clean 

 the green crops; and in harvest ten to eleven 

 bandwin or from sixty to sixty-six reapers, with 

 ten to eleven binders, under the superintendence 

 of tiie second bailiif, cut down, bind and stock the 

 crop. The grieve has at command a haidy high- 

 land pony ; and the fanner who resides at Morvich, 

 two riding horses, to one of which can be j'oked a 

 light gig, for his conveyance to distant parts of the 

 farm. 



** He will proceed to tiescribe, as briefly as possi- 

 ble, first, the habits of his people and the practfccs 

 used in his tillage farm ; and secondly, the particu- 

 lar detail of his tillage ai)plied to e;ich species of 

 crop grown. 



" The grieve or bailifi' and four of the ]ilough- 

 mcn are married men. JCach of ihesf families pos- 

 sesses^ during the year, a house and garden, a 

 milch cow, at all times well fed, 13 Scotch bolls or 

 16 1-4 cwt. of oatmeal, three Scotch bolls or about 

 three cart loads of i)otatues, a linjited quantity of 

 English coals, of the best quality, and a money 

 wage. That of the grieve varies with circumstan- 

 ces. The money wages of the ploughmen may 

 average about ten pounds each. For the above al- 

 lowance each family keeps a youngnian within the 

 house, and, if any circumstance put two young 

 men to lodge with one of the fimilies, there is al- 

 lowed 6 1-y bolls of oatmeal, one boll of potatoes, 

 fifty-two shillings per annum, and some coals, for 

 the additional lodger. When the force comes to 

 Morvich the men are fed in family with the shep- 

 herds there, and 17 1-3 pounds of meal per week 

 are deducted from each man during the time he is 

 so maintained. 



" Various plans have been tried on the farm; but 

 for several years the above-described method has 

 been adhered to as that which, on th» whole, has 

 wrought best. Tlie young men Vi ere found to be 

 made more steady by the s(jciety of the married 

 family, and the married servant went with a better 

 spirit through ihu unremitting liihor attendant on 

 his lot, when he saw liis family admitted to as 

 much comfort as could, in these bad times, be af- 

 forded ; and the prospect before him of assistance 

 from each ol his children, as soon as they could ga- 

 ther a weed or hoe a turnip, 



" There are eight additional families on the skirts 

 of the tillage farm; each of wliom at a nominal 

 rent possesses a house and garden, a cow's (rrass, 

 and a patch of ground, and who, when required, 

 work on day's wages : the younger children at 

 fonrpence, girls at sixpence, old men and lads at 

 one shilling, and able men at one shilling and six- 

 pence per day of ten hours. Their cows are not 

 well fed ; they give no milk in winter; but each 

 family has a trifie of bear or biggt in a small stack 

 behind his house, from each two pecks (three pecks 

 imperial) of which liis wife could brew sixty quarts 

 of small beer for her family, were she not preveri 

 ted by the fifty penalties of the cruel and impolitic 

 malt laws. 



" In the latitude of Sutherland there is a great 

 diversity in the length of the day and niglit, at dif- 

 ferent seasons of the year. From the middle of 

 November to the 1st of February there is no tiirht 

 to perform field work before eight o'clock in the 

 morning, or after four o'clock at night. The prac- 

 tice at this season is, for the families to start at a 

 little past six, and light their lamps. By the light 

 of these, while the women prepare breakfast, the 

 men clean their horses, water them, put the har- 



' Seven pairs, including one pair of mares in 

 foal, and one pair of young horses, thrown off' to 

 grass during summer. 



t A si)ecics of barley. 



ness on them, one feed of corn* for each horse in- 

 to the manger, and another into the mouth bags. 

 At dawn they draw out and begin ayokingor jour- 

 ney, which, with an interval of twenty minutes to 

 ejiipty the mouth bags, la.sts until dark. They 

 tljen return, water their horses and wash tlieirfeet, 

 unliarness and diess them ; fill the rack with oat 

 straw, and the manger with well washed ja'llow 

 turnips, on which the Intrses amuse thenrselves un- 

 til eight o'clock. The men in the mean time dine, 

 andatoighta bell is rung, the lamps lighted, the 

 horses thoroughly dressed, the racks again replen- 

 ished witli fodder, and the mauger cleaned out and 

 filled with a mash, made by tine of the ploughmen 

 during the evening of the preceding day, consist- 

 ing of one feed of light corn for each horse, bailed 

 up or railiPr stewed with yellow turnips cut down, 

 bran from the meal mill and chaff. This closes the 

 duty of the day ; the men sup, go to bed and sleep 

 soundly until six o'clock again rouses them to their 

 work. 



" In February, the day lengthens out, and the 

 yoking lengthens with it until it extends to two 

 journeys of five hours e'ach ; at which time the 

 horses begin to be f'd with h.ay in place of straw. 

 The lengthening day now gives an interval for din- 

 ner at n)id-day, which increases, by the SOth of 

 May, to tlirce hours ; and this interval is perinFtted 

 to them for dinner and rest. They dine at eleven; 

 and most frequently sleep behind, tBeir horses from 

 twelve to nearly two o'clock, when they begin their 

 second yoking of five hours. Py nine o'clock they 

 are all in bed. 



"At this time the green crop seed-time begins, and 

 with it the two journeys increase to eleven, and 

 sometimes twelve hours, the horses gettinrr three 

 feeds each per day. The people, at this time' start, 

 and breakfast at four, yoke at five, rest at eleven, 

 when they dine, and rest till two. At this hour 

 they begin the second journey, which lasts until 

 seven, half i>ast seven, or eight, according to cir- 

 cumstances. These seeds are all got in beTore the 

 Isl of July. The horses are then put to grass: 

 young horses allowed to amuse themselves for the 

 season, and the remaining five pairs restricted to 

 two feeds of corn and ten hours' work, until the 

 cold nights of autumn bring them back to the com- 

 forts of their sta'ule ; and the short d.ay of Novem- 

 ber to the arrangement which was followed in that 

 month of the previous year. 



"The yearly expense of one man and pair, fed 

 and wrought according to the above method, isSlW 

 For the ^vhole six hundred and fifty acres, and oth- 

 er cartage, fix pairs, being at the 'rate of one hun- 

 dred and eight and a half imperial, or about eighty 

 si.x old Scotch acres per pair. The "rieve never 

 leaves these teams; he sees them dressed and fed, 

 and he sees them wrougiit : and the master's eye 

 fiillows him in every step. The fields arc plough- 

 ed in regular divisions, the strength concentrated 

 almost perpetually to one object in one field, and 

 cartage performed to time, by regular yokings; and 

 the writer does not think, that a much belter ex 

 tent of work could be perfiirmed, at t!ie same ex- 

 pense, with justice to the men and cattle. At the 

 same time he is aware of imperfections ; and if bet- 

 ter farniers will give a minute detail of their mode 

 of vyorking, he will gladly borrow from their bet- 

 ter judgment. 



" Piece or task work, except in small detached 

 jobs, has not yet found its way much into tillage 

 \york in Sutherland To greater exertions than 

 time-work it certainly leads, and to greater irregu- 

 larities than is admissible in a well regulated sys- 

 tem ; but it saves the trouble of superintendence. 



" The duty of the second grieve is to attend the 

 thrashings that are perfirmed by the millwright 

 and eight women at each onstead ; to watch over 

 the care of one humlred and sixty wintering cat- 

 tle under the superintendence of three lads ; to 

 hand weed the fallow breaks, and to hoe better 

 than one hundred and twenty acres of rape and 

 turnips; and with ten or eleven bandwin or bands 

 of reapers to cut, bind, and stock the cro|ib. 



" In thrashing, tlie first rope of thatch is loosen- 

 ed, and the sluice drawn at eight o'clock: one of 

 the women, with a boy and horse, carts in the corn; 

 the miller feeds ; the seven girls attend, each her 

 particular part of the machinery ; and by four o'- 

 clock, the fodder of two ten quarter stacks is thor- 

 oughly separated from the corn, and strewed for 

 the cattle, the corn separated from the chalf, and 

 measured over by the second grieve and miller to 

 the granary-keeper; and this person's receipt for 

 the quantity in the master's pocket. The expense 

 may lie as follows : — 



Millwright, two-thirds of a day 



Second grieve 



Eight women, say S hours,61 — say 



6 1-4 days 

 One lad and cart 



8 II 



* One peck and one 

 Scotch lippies or feeds. 



Ion imperial, make four 



Say .') l-4d per quarter 



" This, for oats, barley, and wheat, may cost 

 sevenpence or eightpence per quarter. 



" No other general remark occurs, except on the 

 subject of manure. On Culinaily-farm there is a 

 very considerable supply of sea-weed, of very ex- 

 cellent quality ; on Morvich, which is more inland, 

 there is a great abundance of fern or breekan (fili- 

 ces,) which grow luxuriantly on the soil composed 

 of the debris of the felspar rock, and yields potash. 

 It is the practice to mix the sea-weed with the 

 court-dung, in alternate strata. The dunghills so 

 formed being hard trampled down by th" carts and 

 the feet of cattle, the mass is found in the begin- 

 ning of May to be strongly saturated with an in- 

 fusion of the muriate of soda. It is turned over 

 and slightly covered with mould, for fermentation, 

 prepar^tory to its being applied to the soil, and it 

 forms a manure of the very first quality. The 

 ferns are cut green, brcught together into a great 

 stack, where they ferment to a considerable de- 

 gree ; they are subsequently trampled down under 

 the sheep's feet at sortings, smearing, and at shear- 

 ing time; and being mixed and further fermented 

 in the mass with court or fold dung, they are there- 

 with applied to the naked fallows about to be sown 

 with wheat 



"The first and most important part of the rota- 

 tion employed, is the growth of the green crop, 

 that is cole and turnips ; for they are managed in 

 precisely in the same manner. This species of crop 

 is most important in two respects; first, as the 

 pharinacopceia for the whole stock on the farm, and 

 secondly as the key-stone of the system of tillage 

 farming cmploj'ed — and that on which the quanti- 

 ty and quality of each succeeding crop of the ro- 

 tation depends." 



To show the great facility with which v/ork is 

 performed on tiiese premises, we quote the follow- 

 ing : — 



" Where dung is to be cmploj'ed, two jiloughs, 

 which are yoked twenty minutes before the cart- 

 ers, open drills, furrowing an acute angle with the 

 side ridges; to favor the admixture of the dung 

 next season in the mass of tlie field, these furrows 

 are from twenty-seven to thirty inches wide, ac- 

 cording to the quality of the soil. Four single 

 carts follow, two at each end of the drills, at the 

 rate of luleen to twenty tons per acre. Six girls 

 spread the dung as fast as the carters deposit it. 

 Two ploughs, which yoke forty minutes later than 

 the carters, cover in "the dung. A few boys ami 

 girls handpick file whole. The sowing machine 

 follows and rolls in the seed ; and at the termina- 

 tion of each yokingj three acres, which at the he- 

 ginning lay Hat and dimp from the former tillage, 

 is drilled, dunged, covered, hand-picked, sown and 

 completed. The machine sows two drills at once. 

 Its rollers are formed to encompass and embrace 

 each drill. The two sets of rollers (one for each 

 drill) are separate, and diverge on on iron axle in 

 such a manner, that they can be made to deposit 

 the seed only on tlie top of the drill, immediately 

 incumbent on the manure — a condition whicli in- 

 sures a more equal and a better crop than where 

 less perfect tillage is emploj-ed." 



In conclusion the writer presents the following 

 as the condition of the Scottish poor in this far 

 northern region — a condition undoubtedly much 

 improved both as to health and morals by that stern 

 necessity whicli makes hard labor indispensable : — 

 " .Another instance of Scotch feeling the repor- 

 ter will notice, as it exists among a different class 

 — the colter or agricultural laborer — that is, with 

 respect to poor rates. The Fnglish, the briiycst 

 and most generous people in the world, have es- 

 tablished them ; and yet it is not said that these are 

 any where so established, unattended by a consid- 

 erable degree of improvidence and dissipation a- 

 mong the parlies in behalf of whom the provision 

 is made. 



" On the demesnes of which these farms are a 

 portion, with a moie dense population than ever 

 existed there in any former period of time,* there 

 are no tithes, no poor-rates, and — no drunkards, or 

 beggars ; positively few or none, besides the Irish, 

 and the few squalid, ruined men from the south, 

 who wander occasionally into the country. Nay, 

 one meats with few peasants" sons of this district, 

 who have not, from such slemier wag.'s as lliis re- 



* Vide census, IHII, 1831, 1831. 



