Sutherland Reclamation. 
465 
Price of Material for One Mile of Fencing — continued. 
£ s. d. 
Brought f( rwaid 48 5 0 
1 field gate, 10 feet wide X 3 feet 9 inches high .. 1 i) 0 
1 „ 9 „ X „ „ .. 1 7 G 
1 wicket 4 „ X „ „ ..110 
1 pair gate-posts fitted with crooks and slot hole for) q 1'' 0 
shp holt S ^ 
Total j:52 15 G 
Over the greater part of the farm the peat is only about 12 
inches deep, resting upon a very porous soil. Deeper peat occurs 
in the three pasture fields, in the north-western corner of No. 4, 
and on the eastern side of No. 2. The whole work of trenching 
lias been accomplished at Achintoul by steam-power alone, with- 
out leaving any corners, as at Shinness, to be ploughed by horses or 
trenched by hand. Very little blasting was required, as there were 
but few land-fast stones. The whole of the drains on this farm 
are laid with pipes. The minor drains are 4 feet, and the mains 
4 feet 3 inches deep, — the contract prices being 5s. and 5s. 3d. 
per chain, respectively, for cutting, and Qd. for filling-in. The 
pipes are laid by day-work ; and they lie well below the peat in 
solid ground. If at any spot a solid bottom is not reached at 
4 feet, the men are instructed to cut the drain deeper until they 
reach it, and they are paid for the extra depth if it exceeds 6 feet. 
Good men, well used to draining, earn 3s. per diem at this work. 
For the sake of appearance it has been thought necessary to 
•drain and bring into cultivation the small patches of deeper peat ; 
and in these places the work of cutting drains deep enough to lay 
pipes in the solid bottom has been a very laborious and expensive 
undertaking. The expense per acre of the whole reclamation 
would have been considerably less if these spots had been ex- 
cluded from it. If such places had been merely surface-drained, 
and planted with alder or other trees, it would have been a great 
saving of expense, the landscape would have been improved, 
and the thinnings would have been of considerable value in a 
district where there are no indigenous woods. 
When the land was first taken in hand, it was covered with 
heath about 12 inches high ; this was burnt off before the 
ploughing commenced. By employing three engine-drivers 
besides the ploughman, and two watermen to each set of 
engines, the men were enabled to relieve one another, and the 
engines were often worked for 15 hours a day. The hardest and 
roughest part of the work was encountered at the commencement, 
in 1877. Unfortunately the season was unusually wet, and this 
greatly increased the difficulty of dealing with land that had 
undergone no previous preparation. My first visit to the ground 
was paid on the 26th of June, 1877 ; very heavy rain had fallen 
