Sutherland Reclamation. 
433 
up and relaid in 1878. One side of this field is fenced with 
big roots of fir laid side by side. Fir that grows in bog never 
sends its roots downwards, but spreads them out horizontally ; 
when these roots are laid on their side they make a rough and 
rustic fence of from 5 to 7 feet high that will be sufficient to 
keep in even Highland cattle. In 1879 this field was broken 
up and cropped with 40 acres of oats on the north side, 30 
acres of turnips, 10 acres of swedes, 2 acres of potatoes, and 
2 acres of vetches. The Avhole field has been dunged. Swiss 
oats were sown on 20th May on land ploughed in March and 
April by horses and oxen, and then " disced " by steam. The 
oats came up well, but were eaten by the leather-jacket grub, 
and yielded a very poor crop. The land for turnips was 
ploughed by horses, part in autumn and part in spring. It 
was sown at the end of June with 2 cwt. superphosphate, 3 cwt. 
quarter-inch bones, and 1 cwt. phospho-guano ; the plant was 
eaten by grub, and the land resown late in June. Ten acres of 
swedes sown 15th of June, half of them were destroyed by 
grub ; the blanks were filled up with turnips. All the roots 
were promising well in August. The potatoes were a fair, 
and the vetches a good crop. 
Xo. 7 (30a.). In 1877, oats; 1878 and 1879, grass, a good 
crop, grazed by sheep and cattle. The steading on this farm is 
similar to those on the other farms, but as the set of buildings 
on the next farm is considered to be an improvement upon the 
plan of the others, it will be best to defer giving details until 
that farm is described. It should, however, be mentioned that 
a combined school-house and church of corrugated iron was 
erected by the Duke for the accommodation of the workmen 
and their families, in a central position on this farm. On the 
night of the hurricane this building was unfortunately burnt to 
the ground, the windows were probably blown in, and the hot 
embers then blown out of the grate. 
His Grace has recently erected a new school-room on an 
excellent site a little further to the west, near to the Kenneth 
INIurray obelisk. It is rented by the School Board of Lairg. 
In a casual visit in August 1879, a fortnight after it had been 
opened, I found 40 children attending it, all of them from 
families engaged in work on the reclaimed land. To a southern 
eye the bare feet of a Highland school gives at first sight an 
appearance of picturesque wildness to each class. A brief 
examination, however, soon showed that, with much of moun- 
tain shyness, activity, and health, there was no lack of intelli- 
gence ; the reading was good and the discipline excellent. 
During the rebuilding, school was carried on in a cottage, and 
the attendance in the winter months was upwards of 60.: 
