Jb^ARMERS' REGISTER, 



67 



In going more into delail, he sliail divide what 

 he has 10 say into two pains — the first concerns 

 his iiiliiire, the second ilie management ol' his 

 flocks. 



1. Tillage. — His tillage land is subdivided into 

 twenty-one inclosures, the fences of vvhich are 

 dikes or slone walls, all built by the tenant*, viz. 

 sixteen at Cnlniaily, and five at Morvich. The 

 si-Kteen at Cuhnaily are wrought in ihree- 

 shifis, viz.. six fields of the lightest quality in the 

 course are under the rotation ol'— first, turnips ; ce- 

 cond barley; three, lour, five, grass ; six oats 3 

 ten fields, or two fives, are thus cropped — first, 

 turnips 5 second, barley ; three, lour, grass; five 

 wheat 5 the five inclosures at Morvich in this 

 course — first, rape or cole and naked fallow ; second, 

 wheat, three, lour grass ; five, oais. He grows 

 no more potatoes than are necessary lor the subsist- 

 ence of the people employed, and tliese are grown 

 among Ji is green crops in alternate stripes of six 

 drills of each kind. 



On each of the two above-mentioned divisions 

 of the tillage farm there is a suitable onstead of 

 farm buildings, and a powerful thrashing mill im- 

 pelled by water. On Culmaily are meal and bar- 

 ley mills of small size, also impelled by water, lor 

 the manufacture of his corn. 



His whole tillage, as well as the transport of 

 his wool and materials necessary for the stock 

 land, is performed by six pairs of horsesf, a grieve 

 or bailif}', six ploughmen, and a spadesman ; a se- 

 cond grieve or bailifl' to superintend the women, 

 employed on the farm, a millwright, and sixteen 

 women for the two thrashing mills. In summer 

 these sixteen women, with fourteen to twenty boys 

 and girls, according 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 

 the second bailiff, cut down, bind and stock the crop. 

 The grieve has at command a hardy highland pony; 

 and the farmer, who resides at Morvich, iwo riding 

 horses, to one of which can he yoked alight gig, for 

 his conveyenceto distant parts of the farm. 



He will proceed to describe, as briefly as possi- 

 ble, first, the habits of his people and the prac- 

 tices used in his tillage farm ; and secondly, the 

 particular detail of his tillage applied to each spe- 

 cies of crop grown. 



The grieve or bailiff and four of the ploughmen 

 are married men. Each of these lijmilies pos- 

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

 milch cow, at all times well fed, thirteen Scots 

 bolls or 16;^ cwt. of oatmeal, three Scotch bolls or 

 about three cart loads of potatoes, a limited quan- 

 tity of English coals, of the best quality, and a 

 money wage. That of the grieve varies with cir- 

 cumstances. The money wanes of the ploughmen 

 may average about ten pounds each. For the above 

 allowance each fiimily keeps a young man within 

 the house, and, if any circumstance put two 

 young men to lodge with one of the lamilies, there 

 is allowed 6| bolls of oatmeal, one boll of pota- 

 toes, fifiy-two shillings per annum, and some coals, 

 for the additional lodizer. When the force corner 



* An allowance, or ' meliorations,' to be paid by tli'^ 

 landlord to the tenant for certain improvements, at the 

 end of the term, is stipulated for in the lease. 



t Seven pairs, including one pair of mares in foal, 

 and one pair of young horses throion off fo grass du- 

 ring lummer. 



to Morvich the men are fed in family with the 

 shepherds there, and 17^ pounds of meal per week 

 are deducted from each man during the time he 

 is so maintained. 



Various plans have been tried on the fami ; but 

 for several years the above-described method has 

 been adhered to as that which, on the whole, has 

 wrought best. The young men were found to be 

 made more steady by the society of the married 

 family, and the married servant went with a better 

 spirit through the unremitting labor attendant on 

 his lot, when he saw his family admitted to as 

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

 forded ; and the prospect before him of assist- 

 tance from each of his children, as soon as they 

 could gather a weed or hoe a turnip. 



There are eiglit additional families on the skirts 

 of the tillage farm ; each of whom at a nominal 

 rent possesses a house and garden, a cow's grass, 

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

 work on day's wages : the younger children at 

 Iburpence, girls at sixpence, old men and lads at 

 one shilling, and able men at one shilling and 

 sixpence per day of ten hours. Their cow» 

 are not well fed; they give no milk in winter j 

 but each family has a trifle of bear or bigg* 

 in a small slack behind his house, from each two 

 pecks (three pecks imperial) of which his wife 

 could brew sixty quarts of small beer for her fa- 

 mily, were she not prevented 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 night, at dif- 

 ferent seasons of the year. From the middle of 

 November to the 1st of February there is no light 

 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 fatnilies to start at a 

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

 these, while the women prepare breakfast, the men 

 clean their horses, wafer them, put the harness on 

 them, one feed of corntforeach horse into the man- 

 ger, and another into the mouth bags. At dawa 

 they draw out and begin a yoking or journey, which, 

 with an interval of twenty minutes to empty the 

 mouth bags, lasts until dark. They then return, 

 water their horses and wash their feet, unharness 

 and dress them ; fill the rack with oat straw, and the 

 manger with well-washed yellow turnips, on which- 

 the horses amuse themselves until eight o'clock.- 

 The men in the mean time dine, and at eight a 

 bell is rung, the lamps lighted, the horses thorough- 

 ly dressed, the racks again replenished with fodder, 

 and I he manger cleaned out and filled with a mash, 

 made by one of the ploughmen during the evening 

 of the preceding day, consisting of one feed of light 

 corn fur each horse, boiled up or rather stewed with. 

 yellow turnips cut down, bran from the meal mill 

 and chafl'. This closes the duty of the day ; the 

 men sup, so to bed, and sleep eoimdly until six 

 o'clock again rouse^s them to theJr work. 



In February, the day lengthens out, and the 

 yoking lensthene with it until it extends to two 

 journeys of five hours each ; at which time the 

 horses begin to be ihd with hay in place of straw. 

 TI.e lengthening day «i6w girea an interval for din- 

 ner at mid-day, which mcreases, by the 20th of 

 May, to three hours ; and this intervul is permitted 



* A species of barley.. 



t One peck and one ^lIo« imp€riar, make foaf 

 Scotch lippies or feeds. 



