POLTALLOCH 7 



in the glens. Those who inveigh against " un- 

 earned increment" should recollect, that there is 

 another side of the question : and I have often 

 heard the late laird announce his readiness to 

 hand over his Scotch property to any one who 

 would repay the capital expended on permanent 

 improvements without any interest whatever. Of 

 course, he would have done nothing of the kind ; 

 and I can imagine his face if any one had closed 

 with his offer ; but I have little doubt that, from 

 a purely financial point of view, the bargain would 

 have been an excellent one for the seller. His 

 father, who drained the Crinan moss, kept elabo- 

 rate accounts of the expense of the operation, and 

 only destroyed them in a fit of temper when he 

 found that he had spent more money on his 

 hobby than would have purchased the fee-simple 

 of an equal acreage of the best land in Lincoln- 

 shire in its prosperous days ; but, although he 

 destroyed the records of his expenditure, he con- 

 tinued his operations to the bitter end. 



A naturalist and sportsman may be permitted 

 to regret the utilitarian proceeding which turned 

 the greater part of an ideal snipe bog into in- 

 different farms. Especially do I owe a grudge to 

 the deep drains through which the rain hurries 

 to the river, instead of soaking gradually through 

 the spongy peat moss. The little salmon river 

 rises and falls in consequence with indecent pre- 

 cipitation ; and it has often been my lot to be 



