THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Vol. VI ir. 



FEBRUARY 29, 1840. 



No. 2. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



DESCRIPTION OF STRATHNAVER, MORVICH, 

 AND CULMAILY FARaiS, IN THE COUNTY OF 

 SUTHERLAND [SCOTLAND.] 



Communicated by Patrick Sellar. 



From the ' Reports of Select Farms.' 



Introduction. — The counly of Sutherland is 

 situated in ilie 58iii tieir;ee of north iiUiiude, pa- 

 rallel to Goitenhurirh in Sweden, and Labrador in 

 America, and not two degrees I'urther south than 

 Cape Farewell in Greenland. Its climate, and 

 its productions, and the style of firming followed 

 to bring these last to niaturily, must differ, in 

 many particulars, from what [)revails in Enijiand. 



It consists of a peninsula, nearly of a square 

 form, washed on the west by the Atlantic, on tlie 

 nortli by the Great North Sea, and on the east 

 and south-east by the county of Caithness, and 

 by that portion of the German ocean called the 

 Moray Firth. The exiialations which are pro- 

 duced by these great bodies of water moderate 

 the rigours of winter, and the heals of summer ; 

 causing at the same time a dampness during 

 every season, more especially in the vernal and 

 autumnal ei^uiiioxes, favoratile to grass; but not 

 in every year propitious to the sowing or the ripen- 

 ing ol" corn. 



The centre and east portion of this district, cx- 

 ceptiuiT a narrow stripe along the south-east coast, 

 scarcely two miles in breadth, rests on mountains 

 of gneiss and micaceous schistus, with here and 

 there a mass of primary limestone, or a blufi" hili 

 of old red sandstone* placed upon it. The whole 

 is broken into abundance of wild, and, on the west 

 coast, savage scenery; subdivided by many lakes 

 and streams of water, and covered chiefly with 

 peat boir, on which grow the eriophori, carices, 

 junci, erica»,, and other alpine plants, given in his 

 kindness by providence to those countries, where 

 the extreme leng'h of winter and the absence of 

 spring forbid, during a great portion of the year, 

 the vegetation of plants of a moie feeding, but 

 less hardy nature. 



The tillage farming of the county may, with 

 one exception on the north coast in the limestone 



* The old red sandstone on the west coast extends 

 from Clachtoll in Assyrit on the south, to Culkein on 

 the north. It includes the lofty interior mountams of 

 Sonlbhein, Canisp, and Quenag. From thence to 

 island Handa the coast is composed of round, lumpy 

 hills of gneiss, stretching up to the base of the lofty 

 quartz mountains of the Diriemore. The coast north 

 therefrom, to the vicinity of Cape Wrath, which is 

 granite, is composed of the old red sandstone. To the 

 east of the Cape it is again found, forming the lofty 

 cliffs of Cfochmore and Farout-head. The mountain 

 limestone also forms two considerable ranges; the one 

 commencing on the north coast at Elian Garrow, run- 

 ning to the south of Far-out, extends to the point of 

 Sangoemore, stretching into the interior to the west 

 summit of the lofty mountain of Ben Spiunniue. The 

 next stretches alons: the greater portion of Loch Eri- 

 bol, and includes Elian Choirie to the top of th'^it sea 

 loch. The rest of the county comes within the gene- 

 ral description in the text. 

 Vol. Vlll-e 



dislrict, be said to be limited to the south eastern 

 siripe of coast above menlionod ; where (he irneiss 

 changes into sandstone, and where breccia of va- 

 rious combinations, and coal measures, are tum- 

 bled together in great confusion, and CDvered wiiji 

 debris li-om the neighboring mounlains. H^Te 

 there has been formed a soil, consistitiii- oi' Inam 

 of different defiihs, approarhitig in some pj oip to 

 coarse alluvial matter of consideraltle lenaciiy, but 

 all of it adapted, wh»'n limed, to the growth of 

 heavy crops of tnrni|)s. 



The mountainous part of the country is placed 

 chiefly under sheep. It exports annually one hun- 

 dred and eighty thousand fleeces to employ, and 

 forty thousand sheep to feed, the English manu- 

 fiicturer. The shores abound in fish, and its fishe- 

 ries afford more than fifty thousand barrels (if 

 herrings to the same end; that is to say, either 

 lor direct consumption in Kngiand, or for Ireland, 

 where (hey set free an equal value of food belter 

 adapted for the English market. The part of the 

 country employed in tillaire, exports to the south 

 country several cargoes of corn, sotiie choi<"e Hiiih- 

 land whisky, and a good many droves of caiile ; 

 but it is chieHy available for the esculent liiod, and 

 the refuge durinir wimer which it affords lo ifie 

 weaker portion of {h>^ flocks that occupy the great 

 extent of pnstorMl country, with which it is by the 

 wise provision of nature connected. 



Oi' the above-mentioned agricidtiiral produce of 

 the county of Sutherland, the writer of ihis report 

 may annually export about one-twentieth [tart of 

 each of the above mentioned species of produce, 

 varying in amount according to the nature of the 

 season, and the skill and industry of liie persons 

 employed in directing, superintending, and curry- 

 ing through the operations nece.=sary to improve 

 the quality and preserve the health of the stock, 

 in raising the necessary food, and in delending it 

 against the effects of climate. 



He will proceed to describe — 1st. his farms, 

 which belong in property to the Marqins and Mar- 

 chioness of Staflurd, and he will ext)lain, 



2dly. The management employed in each de- 

 partment to bring out and realize the produce. 



Description o//ar?n.— The first and most im- 

 portant part of the farm possessed by the reporter 

 is in Strathnaver, a tract of mountain land, on the 

 north coast of the county, in latitude* 58° 30\ situ- 

 ated betwixt Loch Naver and the sea. The river 

 Naver runs through it from south lo north, and it 

 extends, at its greatest breadth, from Loch Laygal 

 on the west, to Badanloch on the ea?t. 



The pasturatre consists of a (jreat variety of 

 plants, sin^ularlv adapted to the maintenance, 

 during eveTy month td' the year, of t!ie only do- 

 mesticated animal possessed of a cover adequate. 

 to defend it by day and night from the effects of 

 such a climate— so light in weiirht. as not to sink 

 in the peat bog where it finds its Ibod ; and with 

 power and instinct to spiel] the inaccessible crags, 

 with which such a country abounds. 



* Within aboat one hundred miles of the latitude of 

 Greenland. t Climb- 



