458 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
The top spit of 6 inches is first thrown into the bottom of the 
trench, this is next buried by the soil obtained after the stones 
have been taken out of the next spit of 8 inches deep* the sub- 
soil is then loosened and the stones are taken out of it to a further 
depth of G inches. The stones are carted off the surface by con- 
tract and the prices paid for this work will give some evidence 
of the enormous number of stones raised. It cost in No. 3, 
6Z. 10s. ; in No. 4, 6/. 10s. ; in No. 5, 6/. ; and in No. 6, 3?. 10s. 
per acre. The trenching in each of these fields was done at one 
price, 2s. per imperial rod, or 1 G/. per acre. 
It may be noticed that the cost of this single operation is as 
much per acre as the breaking up and clearing together cost 
on Achnanerain, the most stony of the Shinness farms. It is 
true that none of those farms were as uniformly stony as these 
Rhifail fields ; but it is on stony land that one might have 
expected hand-labour to show to the best advantage, and if 
steam in its infancy could beat it, we may expect it will show 
to still greater advantage in its fuller development. No reclama- 
tions, however, can be effected in the present day so cheaply as 
those done formerly, when wages were only half as high as they 
are now. There is one very serious drawback to the successful 
cultivation of the land at Rhifail ; no lime can be obtained in 
the district. The Erribol lime is brought by sea to Tongue, 
but to cart it thence a distance of 18 miles to Rhifail would 
add greatly to its cost, and consequently none as yet has been 
applied to the newly trenched land. A poor crop of oats was 
grown in 1878 on the No. 3 field, the other three fields were 
left fallow. A plot of ground near the farm-buildings was 
planted with gorse seven or eight years ago with excellent 
results. The drills were made 6 yards apart, and the plants are 
now very high and strong, affording excellent shelter and food 
for sheep in winter. The gorse thrives best on dry and gravelly 
soils. 
The south-western division of the county contains very little 
land that can be rendered fit for cultivation. Mr. Mclver, the 
Duke's factor for that district, states that the only reclamation 
worth reporting on is the improvement of about 100 acres at 
Clashmore, in the Stoir portion of the parish of Assynt, a moun- 
tainous and rocky district, very irregular in surface, and full of 
hillocks. Up to 1873 there was not a field in it exceeding 
4 acres in extent. In that year the improvement of Clashmore 
was authorised by His Grace in order to employ the population 
of the parish of Stoir. The land has a southern aspect. The 
prevailing rock is red sandstone, but the surface is thickly 
strewn with fixed boulders of primitive rock. There is a thin 
soil on a surface of rock interspersed with moss ; in some parts 
