482 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
This is partly due to the extraordinary number of stones in the 
No. 4 field, and partly to an imperfection in the subdivision of 
the accounts, by which the whole cost of a new steel-wire rope 
has been placed to the debit of this farm, as well as an unusually 
heavy charge for repairs done to the engine and plough. Only 
a percentage of the cost of the rope and the repairs should have 
been charged against these three fields. The following are the 
detailed items of the account : — 
£ s. d. 
Wages 452 11 6 
Eaihvay account 38 13 2 
Straw, hay, oats, and bran 73 6 2 
Brora Works' account for hire and repair of 
engines and plough 212 12 8 
2\e\v ropes 127 17 0 
Coals 7 60 
Timber 15 4 10 
Sundries 32 3 3 
Total £959 14 7 
The returns of the expenses upon each of these five farms have 
been extracted from a full account given to me of all the cash 
received from the Duke. 
The expenditure is first divided into three separate accounts : 
the reclamation work, the arable farm, and the sheep farm. 
These are kept quite distinct from one another, and each of them 
is debited or credited with any benefit derived by one from the 
other. 
The Duke has purchased from Mr. Houston the sheep stock 
on the farm, and Air. Greig has undertaken the management of 
them. There is nothing as yet connected with the sheep farm 
that calls for remark, except the purchase of a small cargo of 
Dutch hay, which has been put into small stacks on different 
parts of the farm, so that it shall be at hand for feeding the 
sheep if required next winter. David, the head shepherd, highly 
approves of this innovation, and says the hay is like NoahVark, 
a wise provision for the future. The ricks were temporarily 
covered with turves until rushes could be procured for thatching 
them. Hay is without doubt one of the best winter foods for 
sheep ; but it is expensive, and bulky to carry. By the time it 
is stacked and thatched it costs fully 5/. per ton. For a little 
more money a much more concentrated food of greater manurial 
value might be obtained ; and it is well worth considering 
whether by judicious management some other food could not be 
used with probably more benefit to the sheep, and certainly 
greater benefit to the land. 
I will now recapitulate the gross expenditure on the reclama- 
