AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND — 1791-1796. 95 



old heifers had been sold at £$ each, whilst the ordinary 

 cattle in the neighbourhood, where no improvement had 

 been attended to, would not, at the same age, fetch half that 

 price. The native sheep of the county was either a diminu- 

 tive animal, or it had, by neglect and mismanagement, 

 gradually degenerated alike in carcase and wool. Some 

 rams of the Bakewell breed had been introduced a few 

 years before, but that species of stock was wearing out. 

 The blackfaced Linton breed had been introduced, when 

 sheep farms were first established on a large scale in the 

 county. The breed was found to be hardy, but unprofitable 

 from the small value of the wool. Sir John adds ' that Sir 

 Alexander Mackenzie of Coul and Mr Macleod of Geanies 

 are trying the celebrated Cheviot breed, which, so far as the 

 experiments have yet gone, are likely to answer better than 

 any, uniting a valuable fleece to an excellent carcase.' In 

 speaking of the farms in the central district of Ross-shire, 

 Sir John says that, till of late, the district had been inha- 

 bited by a number of small farmers, who maintained them- 

 selves and their families by the produce of the little spots 

 they had to cultivate, and who, in fair seasons, were able to 

 pay the trifling rent exacted by the landlord from the profit 

 of the cattle they possessed. Of late a change had taken 

 place, extensive districts being rapidly converted from cattle 

 into sheep farms, for which Sir John considered they were 

 infinitely better adapted. Of the agriculture of the western 

 district of Ross, it could only be said that, on the spots 

 where grain was cultivated, it was extremely productive ; 

 but it was not every season that the crop could be reaped, 

 the autumnal rains too often destroying the expectation of 

 the husbandman. As to stock, cattle was the staple, and 

 ' the breeds of Kintail and Coigach were reckoned among 

 the best in the Highlands.' Thirlage prevailed in the 

 county, and was matter of complaint. 



Coming to Sutherland, Sir John describes it also 

 in three divisions — the east, the central, and the western. 

 As illustrating the condition of things on the eastern coast, 

 he refers first to the estates of Skibo and Pulrossie, on 



