Sutherland Reclamation. 
427 
beaters and rake are driven by a pitcli chain from a wheel on 
the same axle as the hind-wheels of the engine. The wheels of 
the traction engine are formed so that rings can be put on one or 
both sides of them to form them into rollers, so that the front 
and back wheels together cover a strip of ground equal to the 
entire width of the engine ; in this way the land can be rolled 
at the time of reaping. I saw a piece of Sandy oats cut by 
steam on the Colabol Farm, in field No. 5a, on the 5th of 
September 1878. A 3-horse traction engine was fitted with 
a roller 3 feet 10 inches wide instead of fore-wheels, each 
hind-wheel was 1 foot 10 inches wide ; the engine thus rolled a 
total breadth of 7 feet 6 inches. The knife of the reaper was 
6 feet 6 inches long, but it is intended to use much longer knives 
when the machine is perfected. The time of the trial had been 
arranged beforehand, and the weather was anything but propi- 
tious, as a drizzling rain was falling. The crop was heavy, with 
a stout straw of very uneven length, varying from 3 to 5 feet 
long, while a fair growth of clover increased the difficulty of 
cutting in the rain. In spite of this, the work was well done, 
until the crop found out a weak point in the adjustment of the 
rake, which was placed too near to the divider ; the wet straw got 
choked up between the divider and the edge of the rake, when 
the latter broke, and so put an end to a trial continued long 
enough to show that the mechanical parts of the problem were 
solved, although no conclusion could be drawn from it as to 
the economical result of substituting steam- for horse-power in 
reaping. 
Achadaphris. — Farm No. III. (Fig. 1, p. 411) contains eight 
arable fields and two large enclosures of outrun or rough pasture, 
fenced in, and intended to be worked in connection with the 
arable land and gradually improved. The outrun on the north- 
east contains 214 acres, and that on the north-west 343 acres. 
The reclamation of this farm was commenced in 1875, most of 
it was cropped in 1876, and the whole of it was under crop in 
1877. Up to that time it had been under the control of the 
engineer, Mr. Baxter, upon whom the main part of the work of 
reclaiming these farms had devolved upon the death of Mr. 
Murray. At Midsummer, 1877, the reclamation work ended 
and Mr. Baxter handed over the farm to the Master of Blantyre, 
who undertook to superintend the management of it for the 
Duke of Sutherland. 
In describing farms Nos. I. and II., I have noticed the injury 
done by letting large pieces of peat become thoroughly dried 
before they were broken up. In the reclamation of Achadaphris 
a great number of experiments were tried to discover the best 
method of breaking-down peat that was too tough to be torn 
