Il6 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the General Meeting held on 29th June 1792, when, on the 

 motion of Mr Macdonald of St Martins, the Society much 

 approved of a resolution of the Directors (i8th May 1792), 

 voting a gold medal of the value of ten guineas, with suit- 

 able inscription, to Mr Drummond of Blairdrummond, for 

 his successful improvement of a large tract of moss, part of 

 his estate in Perthshire, and vicinity of Stirling, begun on a 

 large scale many years before by his father, the celebrated 

 Lord Kames, where several hundreds of cottagers from 

 many parts of the Highlands were comfortably accommo- 

 dated with houses and acres of good arable land acquired 

 from the moss ; and the Society earnestly recommended so 

 laudable an example to be followed by the great proprie- 

 tors of waste and improvable grounds in Scotland, as 

 a measure highly beneficial to the nation at large. This 

 award was made irrespective of the premiums offered for 

 competition. 



Apparently competition for the premiums did not 

 arise for some time after their announcement. We print 

 here a notice of the first eighteen awards, which reach to 

 1802 : 



1. ;^6, awarded in 1796, to Kenneth Macleod, Swordale, Skye, for im- 

 provement made in manuring a field of ten acres so as to produce heavy crops 

 of hay, having contrived, at great expense and trouble, an artificial sluice, by 

 which he could water and drain the field at pleasure. 



2. Five guineas, awarded in 1796, to Hugh Macdonald, Portskerry, Reay, 

 Sutherland, for the improvement of barren land not hitherto in culture, by 

 potato crops — half premium only, in respect that the land was laid out and 

 planted in lazy beds. 



3. Five guineas, awarded in 1796, to Robert Smith, Smithfield, Aberdeen, 

 for bringing land into tillage by first ploughing with eight oxen in traces, the 

 drag harrow and horse plough being afterwards frequently used, and planting 

 potatoes — half premium, in respect of some informality in the certificates. 



4. jCio, awarded in 1796, to Alexander Leslie, Croftcroy, Laggan, 

 Badenoch, for bringing land into tillage by ploughing and cross-ploughing, 

 and planting potatoes in the zig-zag way, and manuring. 



5. Eight guineas, awarded in 1796, to Robert Gordon, Clashnoir, Inver- 

 aven, Banffshire, for bringing land into tillage by means of repeated ploughings, 

 laying on dung and marl, and planting potatoes in the drill way. 



6. Eight guineas, awarded in 1798, to the said Robert Gordon for similar 

 improvements. 



7. A gold medal or piece of plate, of ten guineas value, was awarded at 

 the General Meeting on 8th January 1799, to Mr .Smith of Swanridgemuir, 



