94 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and August, when gruel, pottage and milk, with some 

 bread.' He adds — ' There is not 5 lb. of meat consumed 

 within the family throughout the year ; an egg is a luxury 

 that is seldom or ever indulged in, far less a fowl.' He 

 speaks of two men, two women, three children, and a grown 

 girl or perhaps lad, subsisting by this mode of living for in 

 all jCiS 4s. per annum. The roads in the county are 

 reported good. A branch of the Ross-shire Farmers' 

 Society had been established, which was called the Black 

 Isle Farmer Society, and had for its object 'the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture, and the improvement of the breeds of 

 cattle, sheep, &c.' 



In noticing Ross-SHiRE, Sir John divides the county 

 into its three natural divisions — eastern, central, and wester 

 Ross. The eastern district was partly farmed by gentle- 

 men occupying their own lands, and by respectable tenants, 

 on whose farms the system was abreast of the most ad- 

 vanced management of the period ; but a great portion of 

 the district was occupied by small tenants, who were far 

 behind, and had no idea of varying their system of hus- 

 bandry. The breeds of cattle in the county are described 

 as various. Amongst the farmers they were small and 

 hardy, like the common Highland stock. Some gentlemen, 

 several years before the date of the report, procured bulls 

 from Bakewell and other celebrated breeders in England, 

 by crossing with which they considerably increased the size 

 of their stock ; 'but,' says Sir John, 'it has been found by 

 experience that the best cross for droving purposes is be- 

 tween bulls of the true Highland kind, more especially from 

 the Isle of Skye, and the small, well-haired, hardy cattle 

 bred in the country, if they are well chosen, and of a hand- 

 some make.' He adds that ' it deserves particularly to be 

 mentioned that an English dealer would give more money 

 for a Highland cow or ox that would not weigh, when lean, 

 above 250 lb. weight, than he would give for one of the 

 cross breed, from the English bulls, that would weigh 150 

 lb. more.' As marking the improvement in ' the true breed 

 of Highland cattle,' it is mentioned that, in 1794, two-year- 



