86 Opinion of a Well-known Farmer 



some of the materials for the manufacture of bread. 

 Notwithstanding this unusually dry season, I have found 

 that the roots of chicory plants only about five months 

 old have gone down about 18 inches. 



I now turn to the two poor land fields, one of which, 

 as I have shown {vide page 29), was of the poorest and 

 most exhausted soil imaginable. The kinds and quanti- 

 ties of seeds used in the mixtures are given on pages 30 

 and 31. The poorer field, the Inner Kaimrig, gave a 

 crop, as we have seen in a previous chapter ,(ridc 

 page 32), of not less than 2 tons an acre, and the after- 

 math kept 5f lambs per acre for eight weeks, and 

 afterwards 2 ewes per acre for fourteen days. The 

 better field of the two, the Outer Kaimrig, was grazed 

 with sheep and lambs as follows : — Three ewes and their 

 twin lambs per acre from April 25th to July 10th, and 

 afterwards about 2 ewes per acre up to October 1st. 



In the opinion of my head shepherd the grazed field 

 has given most satisfactory results as regards the amount 

 of stock kept, and the effects produced on the stock were 

 excellent, both as to their health and the progress made by 

 the lambs. My factor (d, practical farmer), who manages 

 the farm, is of opinion that the results obtained could not 

 be surpassed, and advises me to stick to the same mixture 

 for the future. The fields, during my absence from home, 

 were visited by one of the most advanced tenant-farmers 

 in the South of Scotland, and as he has had great expe- 

 rience in laying down land to grass (having laid down to 

 permanent pasture about 400 acres), I think it wel| to 

 quote part of the letter he afterwards wrote to me : — 



" I was very fortunate in going at the right time, as yonr hay- 

 cutting was in progress, and so I had an excellent opportunity, 

 both of seeing the grasses growing and amongst the hay on the 

 high field at OUfton. The crop I thought a remarkably fine one 

 for a field of light hill land. The first thing that struck me was 

 the extraordinary take of red and alsike clover, compared to the 

 small quantity sown per acre, which leads me to doubt the 

 system pursued generally of sowing 12 or 14 lbs. 



