2 2o Agriculture in Orkney and Shetland. 



size and quality are bred, and crofters, generally speaking, 

 pay as much attention to the rearing of these as do the large 

 farmers. The rearing of pigs and poultry is an important 

 branch of Orcadian industry, and the income derived from 

 these sources is very considerable. 



In some districts a considerable revenue is derived from 

 the kelp industry. This remark applies in particular 

 to Stronsay, Westray, and Papa Westray. The securing of 

 the weed and tangle and the drying and burning of the same 

 involves a great amount of hard labour, and the return for it 

 in cash would be considered, in the ordinary case, scarcely 

 adequate, but here it is of value, as it affords employment 

 to the tenant and his family during a period which would 

 otherwise be unproductive. 



There are no common pastures in Orkney, almost all the 

 land in the islands (excluding the hills) being under cultiva- 

 tion, and much of the croft land has been reclaimed by the 

 occupiers or their predecessors from the brake. 



The agricultural conditions prevailing in Shetland are 

 in every way different from those in Orkney. In the latter 

 almost every available acre is under the plough ; in the former 

 the arable land consists of small patches near the shore. 

 This land is, as a rule, referred to as " merks/' The merks 

 were the proper udal lands, and were anciently free. 

 Attached to each udal possession was an interest in the 

 common grazing. This common land alone was liable to 

 " scat" duty, and hence the term " scattald," or " scathold," 

 by which the Shetland common pasture is known. The 

 interest of the udal proprietor in the scattald depended on 

 the number of merks he owned of arable land. In most cases 

 the scattalds have been divided by decree of the Supreme 

 Court, but it frequently happens that, for practical purposes, 

 the division is only on paper, and that, as the different 

 portions are unenclosed, the stocks of tenants of various 

 owners graze promiscuously over the whole. 



The arable land has been reclaimed from the moor and 

 moss, and in many cases has been brought into a state 

 of fertility ; fair crops of oats, chiefly grey oats, and bere 

 are raised, and large crops of potatoes and cabbages. The 



