APPENDIX, No. VII. 75 



^ent and value of Highland property might be doubled; 

 Rnd, in procefs of time, tripled, naj, quadrupled, hy 

 fheep farming *. By flieep alfo, the prefent heath-cover- 

 ed mountains of the Highlands would be rendered greea 

 and fertile, and greatly more productive than at prefent. 

 Whilft, by improving and extending the filheries, and 

 by eftablilhing towns and villages, in proper fituations for 

 the woollen and other manufactures, the aftual population 

 of the country might not be diminifhed, yet the general 

 face and appearance of it, and the value of its produce 

 tions, might be greatly improved f . 



As this is a queftion of conliderable moment to thq 

 general interefis of the empire, it would well become 

 fo refpe£lablc a body of men as the Highland Society, to 

 have a fubjcd with which they are fo peculiarly connect- 

 ed, probed to the bottom. For that purpofe, it might 

 be proper to afcertain, i. What diflricls in the Highlands, 

 pow in a great meafure occupied as cattle farms, are cal- 

 culatedfor fheep. 2. What may be the rent of thefe diflri£ls 

 at prefent, and what would he their value under Iheep. 

 3. What is the population of thefe diflricls, and to what 

 would the population be reduced, if flieep farms uni- 

 verfally took place. Lajlly^ Could any meafures be 

 adopted, by encouraging fiiherics and eftablilhing manu- 

 fadlures, and by eretling towns and villages in the ifland, 

 as well as the maritime parts of the country, that would 

 efiedtualiy counteract the deflructive confequences of 

 ilieep farms, and prevent the depopulation of the country. 



' The number of Iheep that might he maintained in the northern and 

 and wcftern iflands, and the vahie of their fleeces, were fiiie-woolled fheep 

 alone reared in that part of the kingdom, would far exceed the mod 

 fanguine calculations of thofe who have as yet iuvcftigated that fub- 

 jea. 



f Some new articles of produce might alfo be introduced ; for inftance, 

 the Fromagc de Roquefort, a village in the province of Rouerque, near Lan- 

 gucdoc, where great quantities of ewe milk cheefe jj made, whicli fells al; 

 a. very high price, : nd is much in requcfl, ^ 



