JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
XVI. — Sutherland Reclamation. By Charles Gay Robeuts, 
of Haslemere, Surrey. 
The last volume of this Journal contained two reports on recla- 
mations effected, one in England and the other in Ireland. The 
important reclamations in the north of Scotland which I have 
now to notice differ from the other two, not only in the extent 
of their area and the magnitude of their cost, but still more in 
this respect that, while those works were single and independent 
undertakings that might fairly be considered simply upon their 
own merits, the work that is being done by his Grace the 
Duke of Sutherland is undertaken for the benefit of the whole 
county. It cannot, therefore, be rightly estimated as an isolated 
performance, or as a series of agricultural achievements, but must 
be considered also as it affects the system of farming hitherto 
pursued in the county. 
Before entering on the details of the work done, it will be con- 
venient, therefore, to glance briefly at the past history and the 
present state of rural economy in Sutherland. 
The county of Sutherland is nearly of a square form, about 
60 miles in breadth, and 50 miles from north to south. Occu- 
pying the extreme north-western corner of Scotland, it is bounded 
on the west by the Atlantic, and on the north by the Northern 
Ocean. The warm current of the Gulf Stream, sweeping along 
these coasts, affects the climate of the whole county. The county 
of Caithness forms its eastern boundary. On the south-east it 
is washed by the Moray Firth, and on the south it is bounded 
by the Dornoch Firth and the county of Ross. Two-thirds of its 
circumference is thus washed by the ocean, while its coast-line 
is broken by salt-water lochs running far into the interior. The 
evaporation from the ocean and from the great lochs of fresh as 
well as of salt water, causes a dampness at all seasons of the 
year, more favourable to the growth of grass than of cereal 
crops. 
VOL. XV.— S. S. 2d 
