38 SJK JOHN SINCLAIR. CHAP. iv. 



and before nightfall, the sheep-track, six miles in 

 length, was converted into a road perfectly easy for 

 carts and carriages. This showed what energy could 

 accomplish. 



The young laird was not satisfied with that. He 

 formed a large number of farms on his own estate. He 

 enclosed, drained, and reduced them to order, entirely at 

 his own expense. He built bridges ; he made roads ; he 

 introduced the best cattle ; he provided the best turnip, 

 rye-grass, and clover seeds ; he enjoined upon his farmers 

 to adopt a regular rotation of crops ; and in a short 

 time converted what had been a barren wilderness into 

 a well-cultivated district. He enclosed on his own 

 estate about 12,000 English acres of waste land, all of 

 which eventually repaid the outlay. Among his other 

 achievements, he introduced the Cheviot breed of sheep 

 into the whole^of Scotland, and thus doubled the value 

 of the grazing grounds north of the Tweed. 



Sir John tried to introduce trees at Thurso, but he 

 found it difficult to make them grow. It was necessary 

 to dig a hole of large dimensions through the subsoil of 

 slaty rock, over which the tenants of the neighbouring 

 townlands were obliged annually, for seven years, to 

 heap a large mound of compost. And even when the 

 trees did grow they were often blown away by the 

 furious winds from the north and west. 



Sir John even tried to introduce nightingales into 

 Caithness ! But Nature baffled his efforts. He obtained 

 nightingales' eggs from the London bird fanciers. They 

 were substituted for those of the robin redbreast. The 



