66 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



Where the waters, by cutling out ravines, glens?, 

 and straths, have formed an alluvial soil, composed 

 of the debris of the mountain rocks mixed with 

 peat, there the finer sorts ofplanis appear. These 

 plants vary according to the quality of the compo- 

 nent parts whereof the soil on which they grow 

 consists. On spots, for instance, where the de- 

 composing felspar abounds, some natural clover, 

 rye-grass, yarrow or millefoil, mountain daisy, 

 primrose, and other plants of first quality are dis- 

 covered — mixed with the holcus mollis, agiostes, 

 airaj, &c. which are natural to the decomposing 

 mica — with the fescue grass, brome grass, com- 

 mon bent, heather, et hoc genus onine, which is 

 content with the nourishment to be derived from the 

 sterile bank of quartz gravel. Ih this respect the 

 pastures of the county of Sutherland possess an 

 advantage over many tracts exhibiting a more 

 flattering outline; and with the ever varying pro- 

 portions and combinations of matter contained in 

 its gneiss, there is throughout the country an infi- 

 nite mixture of the plants best suited for the main- 

 tenance of ' keeping stock' during every season of 

 the year ; which grasses, by the irregular burst- 

 ing out of rocks in a state of partial decomposi- 

 tion, and by the serpentine course of burns and 

 waters, are ultimately interwoven with the alpine 

 plants that grow upon the peat-bog, and Ibrm the 

 principal part of the maintenance of the stock. 



Of these alpina plants, there exists a considera- 

 ble number and variety. On the knolls, the hea- 

 ther (erica vulgaris) prevails. It fills with seed, 

 ripening in all seasons of ordinary fertility, like a 

 field of corn,* and forms a principal part of the 

 food of stock, during the wet months of October, 

 November, December, and January. In exposed 

 Bituations, the shepherds burn it, and the sheep 

 eat the young shoots in August and September. 

 In lower positions it is left to come to greater 

 length, eo that the sheep rnay work down to it in 

 time of snow, and in order to afford shelter in 

 lambing time. Adjoining to the heather, the 

 sheep find, on the ppat of damper and deeper 

 quality, the ling (erica tetralix), cotton grass 

 (eriophorum vaginatum), rasj) grass (carex ccbs- 

 pitosa). The leaves of these plaints ihey consume 

 along with the heather, during the autumn and 

 winter months. In February the heather has lost 

 its seed. It is succeeded by the pry (cnrex pani- 

 ca,) the stool bent (jtincus squarrosus), and by 

 thick beds of the flowers of the cotton grass, which 

 are found in the latter end of February', and begin- 

 ning of March, pointing wilh freat vigor to the 

 cheerless sun of that wet and uncomfortable sea- 

 son. These plants continue in use, until the se- 

 cond or third week of April ; and during all this 

 time, they furnish for keeping stock, food of the 

 best quality and in the greatest abundance. From 

 this date to the middle of May, a link is in this 

 country wanting in the chain of alpine eatage. 

 On well drained and moderately stocked ground, 

 the finer qualities, which in this season beo-in to 

 epring, supply the defect, but under ditterent^'man- 

 agement, the 'hunger rot' and a train of conse- 

 quent ills sometimes ensue. In the middle of 

 May, however, the deer hair (scirpiis ccespitosus) 

 takes the place of the moss. It shoots throuf^h 



* In 1816 it filled very imperfectly, and the conse- 

 quences to the flocks were deeply felt during the en- 

 suing winter. 



the ground like a thick braird of corn, and wi(h 

 the fine grasses, by this time in full vigor, provides 

 for stock most abundantly, until the month of Au- 

 gust ; when the ground is lightened by the depar- 

 ture of the annual cast or sale lot of sheep ; and 

 the young heather and ling come again into play. 



The next part of the concern, comprising Mor- 

 vich and Culmaily, consists of a tract in Strath 

 Fleet, and on the' shores of the south-east coast 

 of Sutherland. On the south and west it rests on 

 the sides of a pretty considerable chain of moun- 

 tain, composed of inclined reil sandstone, called 

 Bhen Bhra<rie and iihen Lundie. That part of" 

 this farm which falls down on the south side of 

 the mountain, to a flat of more than four hundred 

 and fifty imperial acres of tillage land, is Culmaily 

 Farm; and is chiefly composed of a sharp gra- 

 velly black loam, incumbent on sandstone of very 

 con)pact quality, and on the debris of the sand- 

 stone and gneiss rocks, which abound in the 

 neighborhood, mixed up with some sea sand and 

 calcareous matter infused into the mass, at some 

 remote period when it must have been covered 

 wilh salt water. The other part, which is on the 

 west side of the mountain, is barely within the 

 gneiss district; it descends to the base of a pre- 

 cipitous mass of rock, composed in a great mea- 

 sure, of amorphous felspar, at the bottom of which 

 is the alluvial flat of ' Morvich,' formed of a deep 

 and pietty strontr clay loam, in some part covered 

 with moss, and measuring better than two hun- 

 dred imperial acres of tilla2e land. 



It is not immaterial to the reader to know, that 

 of these tillaee larms, flill two hundred and fifiy 

 acres have been converted from moor, mo.-s, and 

 pasture, into tillnfje land, by the reporter, and that 

 he has thoroughly manured the whole six hundred 

 and fifty acres wiih lime imported from England ; 

 and he mentions these facts here, in order to aflijrd 

 him this opportunity of adding, that he was in- 

 duced to make such extensive in)provemenis by 

 the liberal terms granted in his first lease, the un- 

 solicited addition of nine years to its endurance, 

 and the abatements of rent given and other acts 

 of kindness which have been, by the venerable 

 marquis and his noble lady, conferred upon him, 

 in common wiih the other tenantry of the estate. 



He will not tire the reader with a detail of the 

 numerous little experiments which have led him, 

 step by step, to his present system of manage- 

 ment — a system containing many imperfections to 

 be discovered, possibly, and corrected, and in no 

 way so likely as by the comparison of the details 

 of his management with those of other and better- 

 informed farmers, who may be induced, like him, 

 to communicate their stock of ideas to this society, 

 for the purpose of being added to the general fund 

 collected by them, for the use of the profession. 



Management. — The first outline of his manage- 

 ment is this: he breeds and rears his flocks in 

 Slrathnaver, devoting Morvich and its adjoining 

 pasturage grounds as a reflige for the weak end of 

 his ewe stock, and for the purpose of preparing 

 his sale ewes for market ; Culmaily being used as 

 the refuge for the weak end of his wethei stock, 

 and for preparing his sale lot of wethers for mar- 

 ket. At Morvich, too, he keeps under his own 

 eye the elite of his ewe stock, from which his tups 

 are bred, and at Culmaily his tups, which are 

 marched ofl' to the ewe flocks in Stralhnaver ai 

 the appointed time. 



