194 AGRICULTL'RAL JMUfliUM 



mown for hay. If the sub soil be dry and without niinc^ 

 ral inipregniition, the water which flows through the soil, 

 usually produces a green herhs^^e, wh.i<?h. in a high north 

 ern latitude, is not liable to infect sheep with the rot, as 

 in the more southern districts. Ifdrans were eut trans- 

 versely or obliquely across these bogs, thcv will serve 

 also as carriages, as the same water which before soak- 

 ed through theiji would be thrown over their surface/ 

 and produce a rapid and surprising improvement. This 

 hay should be stacked near to the sheep cot; i\vy earth, 

 fern, or heath, being from time to time spread over the 

 bottom oi the cot, the sheep will have their bellies, whert 

 lyi.ig down, kept dry; and a great deal of exeelient 

 manure*\vill be made, whilst (he pr;»fit, as fai- as relates to 

 the health and security of the llock, will be great bc'- 

 yond the conception of those who, residing in less ex- 

 posed districts, know not the force of winds and snow, 

 or the dreadful havoc occasioned by their combined in- 

 fluence. 



^Vhe^e low cultivated land is attached to a district of 

 this kind, additional keep will, of course, be obtained; 

 and the flock will be wintered on it; in tbis case ajso, 

 the cot would be most beneficial. And in those moun- 

 tain districts, it may be a question, whether the stock to. 

 be carried on them, if so treated, might not double or 

 even triple in number the old stock, at the saaictime that 

 immense losses would be avoided. 



Having slated this in a plain and distinct manner, 

 again and again J. contented myself with merel}- expres- 

 sing a determination, to act on this priiiciple, when the 

 lease or tack of one of the farms of this description, in 

 the Lanimer muir in Berwicksbire, consisting of 240Q 

 acres, should expire, and said no more on the subject. 



The grassy hills of Selkirk and Dumfries shires ar» 

 far better suited to carry sheep, than the ''heathery'' or 

 heath- growing muirs of Berwickshire ;but although the 

 quantity of sheep to be depastured per acre cannot be so 

 ^reat, still thecffc'4 will in propor(Jc« be the sam(?: great 



