408 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
provement invariably leads to further improvement, I propose 
to deal mainly at present with the shores of Loch Shin and the 
immediate banks of the Tirree. I entertain no doubt that, for 
every acre which may be cultivated within the first twenty-one 
years, half as many more will be reclaimed in the succeeding lease, 
and probably at a less expense than those which are made arable 
now. Experience teaches that over-exertion in the matter of 
improvement of land is a mistake, and that, in fact, it often 
annuls for a time the real benefit of what was otherwise a true 
measure of improvement. Still, from the character of this sub- 
ject, and the necessity of improving the climate, I hold that 
this particular operation must be extensive to be successful." 
In carrying out the work the estimate of cost given in Mr. 
Murray's report was very much exceeded, from various causes, 
many of which could not have been foreseen at the time it was 
written. Although this is the case, it may be interesting to give 
his estimate, with some of the remarks he appended to them. In 
drawing them up he was guided by his own previous experience 
in the reclamation of not less than 2500 acres of waste land, 
chiefly in the county of Ross. 
The thorough drainage of the land, to be done chiefly by 
pipes, he estimated would cost 5Z. per acre. Trenching the land 
by hand he puts at 10/. ; but reckoning that four-fifths of the 
land could be ploughed by horses or oxen to a depth of 12 
inches at a cost of 2Z. 10s., he sets the average cost of breaking up 
the whole surface at 3Z. per acre. The cost of blasting boulders 
and removing stones from the surface he puts down at 2/. ; build- 
ings at 5Z. 10s. ; fencing at 21. ; and roads and bridges at 10s. ; 
making thus a total of 18Z. per acre, exclusive of planting for 
shelter, as the estimated cost of preparing the land for its first 
crop. With regard to the rate of interest to be expected on the 
outlay, he says that " no land improvement can possibly pay a 
high rate at first. A separate operation, like drainage, often pays 
immensely, but when the improvement is dead-weighted with 
the cost of buildings, roads and fences, &c., it takes time and 
maturity to bring back anything higher than the most moderate 
interest. Then it is to be borne in mind that that most moderate 
interest is liable to assessment ; for the moment you create pro- 
perty it is rated, and even on new subjects these rates will take 
about a seventh of the income. . . . You can rarely create land 
to pay more than the same rate at which land already made can 
be purchased, and that is at best ?>\ per cent. The profit is at 
the end of the first lease, except in rare cases." 
The experience gained at Uppat led the Duke to resolve on- 
ploughing or trenching the whole of the land by steam-power 
to a much greater depth than the 12 inches named by Mr. 
