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a source of profit out of which alone they can meet a 

 good percentage of their whole rent. I am informed 

 that they are able to demand, and do actually re- 

 ceive, for the grazing of a few months in winter, a 

 rent per head of sheep quite as high as that which 

 the proprietor would receive for the whole year."^^' It 

 is obvious, therefore, that the talk about sheep farms 

 as a grievance is talk quite irrelevant to the circum- 

 stances of Tyree. There is indeed one large farm on 

 the Island, the famous " Keef of Tyree," which is 

 chiefly — though by no means exclusively — pastured 

 by sheep. It is a great plain containing about looo 

 acres, which has been once covered by the sea, and 

 is still very slightly raised above its level. It is 

 absolutely imfit for tillage, being almost pure sand. 

 Nature fits it for the pasture of sheep and cattle, 

 and for nothing else. It is true, also, that on 

 almost all the rich pastures of Tyree held by the 

 larger farmers, sheep are more or less extensively 

 pastured, — ^just as they are pastured on arable farms 

 in the Lowlands, and in England, — and are fed and 

 bred for the production of early lambs. But cattle, 

 rather than sheep, are the main produce of the 

 Island ; and as there are no mountains, and only 

 three low elevations on the Island worthy of even 



* It is indeed a curious illustration of the utter ignorance which 

 inspires the present outcry against sheep-farming, that, as one of the 

 ramifications of this branch of rural economy, it is now a most 

 important aid to the arable farming of the low country. I was 

 very much surprised to find, quite lately, from one of my own 

 tenants in an arable farm, that he was able to get as much as 93. 

 per head for the "wintering" of sheep on his fields. This is 

 between two and three times the rent which the proprietor of 

 mountain grazings can get for the same sheep during the whole 

 year. 



