420 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
drawing the plough, all of thetn specially constructed for the pur- 
pose, and worked at more than double their nominal power. They 
are provided with two ploughing speeds ; by means of a second 
shaft the winding-drum is driven at a slow speed for reclamation 
work, while for ordinary farm work or for travelling on the 
roads it can be driven at full speed by the direct shaft. Where 
there are very many large roots or stones to be pulled out, the 
16-horse engines are best, but their greater weight is a serious 
disadvantage on soft ground ; and the balance of advantage, taking 
one sort of w^ork with another, is now thought to rest with the 
14-horse engines. A light wooden roof over each engine gives 
shelter to the driver, and protects the working parts from the 
weather. 
For travelling on soft land the wheels of the engines require 
to be of great size ; those of the 14-horse engines are now made 
of 5 feet in diameter, with a permanent tire of 20 inches, while 
extra widening rings of 2 feet wide are bolted on to them, giving 
a surface- bearing to each wheel of 3 feet 8 inches. Notwith- 
standing these precautions, however, the sinking of an engine in 
the bog is one of the most frequent causes of delay. When this 
happens, sticks of birch or other wood are thrown in front of the 
wheels ; and if these can be supplied in sufficient quantity, the 
engine will generally be able to pull itself out ; at other times a 
second engine is required to haul it out. Delays arising from 
the work of the plough itself are now usually trifling. When the 
land is full of large stones, as it was at Achnanerain, it rolls and 
pitches over the hidden obstacles in its way, and the driver has 
a very uneasy seat ; but the implement is never overturned, and 
the steadiness with which it tears its way through inequalities of 
surface over sharp ridges and abrupt hollows is marvellous. 
No. 3 field at Achnanerain proved to be more like a quarry 
or a buried antediluvian pavement than an ordinary field for 
ploughing ; 150 tons of stones per acre were removed from it 
after it was ploughed. At this time no turn-furrow had been 
attached to the Duke's toothpick, and most of the stones, though 
loosened, were not brought to the surface ; from 20 to 30 men 
were employed in digging them out and placing them in rows 
ready for removal. Where the ground is sufficiently dry to 
carry horses, the stones may be loaded into carts, and drawn at 
once wherever they are wanted for the construction of dykes, 
roads, drains, or farm-buildings. Wherever the land is too soft 
for carts, the stones are drawn on sledges to the headlands of 
the fields by steam-power. I'igs. 4 and 5 show the side elevation 
and pl;ui of one of these stone-sledges ; they are constructed of- 
iron to carry 5 tons, and are drawn, like the plough, by wire- 
ropes. As soon as a sledge is loaded it is drawn by one of the 
