ISLA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



plough can be managed ; but the improved state of agri- 

 culture in Isla does not permit that sort of industry which 

 consists in cultivating rocky lands with the spade, and 

 which is so universal a feature throughout the islands 

 where the ancient habits still prevail. 



The soils of Isla are as various as the rocks on which 

 they lie. The south-western division and the eastern 

 flat are formed of rich and generally deep clay, suffi- 

 ciently mixed with sand to adapt its retentive powers of 

 moisture to the wet climate of the island. The middle 

 division is in great part calcareous, lying on a tract of 

 limestone ; while in other places it is a clayey or gravelly 

 alluvium ; or, where the peat has been reduced by culture, 

 possesses the quality usually derived from the predo- 

 minance of that substance. These soils are also fertile, 

 and are in general, either in a state of cultivation, or making 

 as rapid a progress towards it as the circumstances of 

 the island will permit. The two ridges, consisting of 

 quartz rock, are, as in similar cases, covered with a scanty 

 and gravelly soil, producing the usual pasture of all the 

 mountain districts which lie on this rock. They are 

 employed in the pasturage of black cattle ; few sheep 

 being reared in Isla, and those only for domestic con- 

 sumption. 



The circumstances which distinguish the agricul- 

 ture of the Western islands have been occasionally no- 

 ticed, and too often, it must be regretted, in terms 

 of censure. These remarks do not apply to the system 

 pursued in Isla, which, though as yet far from per- 

 fect, is advancing with a steady pace, and with a more 

 rapid stride than the neighbouring continental districts 

 did during their state of reform and improvement. By the 

 enlargement of farms, and by the introduction of capable 

 tenants acting under secure leases, moderate rents, and 

 allowances for melioration, new lands have been brought 

 into cultivation; while the introduction of green crops, 

 the improvement of the breed of cattle, a better system 

 of stocking and of winter feeding, roads, carts, improved 



