tyre.

sort of bag made of straw, used as sacks for carrying grain Agricul or meal); ropes made of hair for drawing the plough; foss, or reeds, used for these or similar purposes; tethers, or ropes made of hair, which being fixed in the ground by a peg or small stake, and the cattle tied to them, prevented them from wandering over the open country; straw for thatching, &c. The tenants also, according to the extent of their possessions, kept for the landlord a certain number of cattle during the winter-season; paid vicarage or the smaller tithes, as of lamb, wool, &c. ; a certain number of fowls and eggs; in the Highlands, veal, kid, butter, and cheese; and on the sea-coast the tithe of their fish and oil, besides assisting in carrying sea-ware for manuring the proprietor's farm. In some parts of the country the tenth sheaf of the produce, or tithe, was exacted by the proprietor in kind. Sometimes also a certain quantity of lint was spun for the lady of the house, and a certain quantity of woollen yarn annually exacted. Such were the various sorts of payments which almost universally prevailed in the county of Caithness about thirty or forty years ago; but of late they have been converted, by the generality of landlords, either into grain or money, or have fallen into disuse.

Still, however, in consequence of want of capital on the part of the tenants, the farms are in general extremely small; but it is to be observed, that in no part of the island does a greater zeal for the improvement of the territory exist than among the proprietors of land in the county of Caithness. They are extremely anxious to obtain farmers from the south of Scotland; and they themselves give an example of every sort of agricultural improvement. They also are anxious to adopt every public improvement which can be suggested. This is not surprising, when it is considered that the gentleman who

tute.

Agricul- established the Board of Agriculture, and collected and published the Statistical Account of Scotland, and who has certainly rendered himself the instrument of collecting and diffusing a greater mass of beneficial practical knowlege than was ever given to the world by any one individual, is one of the great proprietors of this county, It would have been surprising if he had been unable to diffuse around him, in his native district, a portion of his own activity and public spirit.

Culture of wastes.

Crops reared.

The cultivation of wastes is here going on with much vigour. In one year a single proprietor ploughed between 500 and 600 acres of waste land, and immediately brought it under crop. A considerable proportion of the land was, till lately, held in commons; but it has been found practicable to divide them, by the neighbouring proprietors entering into a bond of submission to some gentlemen of the country in whom they have confidence. One tract of 2500 acres was in this way divided at a very moderate expence ; and another of 4500 acres was immediately thereafter brought to division in the same form. Very extensive trials have been made of improving the soil by paring and burning; and these have been found to be attended with great success. In this way large tracts of land, having a steril crust on the surface, generally of the nature of peat, and producing only the most coarse plants, may soon be expected to be brought at once into an excellent state of tillage and fertility. Some extensive improvements have also been made by draining. At the loch of Durin, in particular, a great tract of valuable land, and an inexhaustible quantity of the richest marl, have been secured by two proprietors at a moderate expence ; and other undertakings of a like nature are carrying on. It is found that winter wheat is a much hardier grain than winter rye. Winter tares cannot be depended on in the

ture.

northern part of the island; but they may be sown early Agricul in spring with much advantage, and answer better than what are called spring tares, being much hardier. They should be sown, however, immediately after the land is ploughed. There is reason to believe that carrots will answer on fen or mossy land, if a sufficient quantity of ashes is spread on the ground where they are sown; and it is probable that lime and other manures may raise that valuable crop on peaty soil. It is desirable to cultivate oats having only one pickle instead of two or three. The grain is plumper, ripens earlier, and is much less liable to shake; the sample, also, is more equal, and consequently must fetch a better price at market. An acre of moss land, after being pared and burnt, was sown on the 30th May with grass seeds alone (red clover, rye-grass, with a small mixture of other grasses), and on the 30th September it was fit to mow. The plan of laying down land, even in good heart, to grass, without a crop of grain, cannot be too strongly recommended; but it would seem to be a system peculiarly well adapted for new lands. It would appear that the northern parts of Scotland produce peat, the ashes of which is equal in quality to the Berkshire, when burnt by the same process,

Great exertions are making here for the improvement Roads. of the roads; an object essentially necessary to the success of agriculture. A very liberal aid has for this purpose been obtained from government, on condition that the proprietors shall expend money to a proportional amount upon this beneficial purpose. It may be remarked, that the entry to this county from the south, along the shore, is by a celebrated pass, called the Ord of Caithness, which has been described by travellers, and in particular by Pennant, as very frightful and dangerous. The road passes along the south side of the hill of Ord, which is very steep,

Roads. sloping along to the top of a rock which is many fathoms in height. This pass has been surveyed by the direction of government, and a tract has been discovered, by which the road may be conducted without danger, upon an ascent of not more than one foot in thirty. It is farther to be remarked, that the cultivators of the soil in this district possess the advantage, in consequence of their situation, of being able to bring their corn crops to market at a very trifling expence. This arises from their vicinity to the sea-coast. It costs less to convey grain from Caithness to London, than to convey it to a distance of five or six miles inland; so that, upon the whole, this may be considered as one of the most promising districts in the north of Scotland; and it is one in which speculators in agriculture have an important field of enterprise, because the soil is level and new, and proprietors anxious to give encouragement to enterprising men.

Animals.

In the central or upper part of the county of Caithness the following animals are found. The quadrupeds are, black cattle, sheep, goats, swine, dogs, cats, hares, rabbits, otters, foxes, badgers, rats, mice, moles, weasels, and wild cats. The birds are, eagles, hawks, swans, ducks, wild geese, sea-pies, sea-plovers, scale-ducks, herns, cormorants, marrets or auks, king's fishers, rain-geese, moorfowls, plovers, partridges, lapwings, snipes, tame ducks, plover-pages, tillings, linnets, thrushes, hill-sparrows, common sparrows, wrens, buntings, larks, swallows, yellow hammers, water-wagtails, titmice, jackdaws, jackbits, ravens, wood-larks, whimbrels, starlings, curlows, redbreasts, cuckows, night-rails, pigeons, snow-fowls, rooks; and in the highest part of the county wood-cocks, black cocks, and heath-hens are sometimes seen. Of these the swan, wild goose, sea-duck, marrot, night-rail, edbreast, cuckow, wood-cock, and snow-fowl, are migra

tary, Adders are sometimes found in the mosses, but Animals. they are not numerous. The snow-fowl, in the winter, are inconceivably numerous. The hills are exceedingly well stocked with the moor-game above mentioned. The coasts, throughout the year, abound in multitudes of seafowl. In the summer months, the swarms of scarfs, marrots, faiks, &c. that come to hatch in the rocks of Dungis Bay and Stroma are prodigious. They in a manner darken the air, when, on any sudden alarm, they take wing in a body from their nests.

In the upper district of the county sheep-farming has Live stock. been introduced, to supplant the ancient practice of rearing small Highland cattle. The weight of the native cattle amounts to between 200 and 300 lbs. Dutch; the working oxen, full grown, to 400 lbs. weight; but large cattle are now reared on the farms belonging to gentlemen. The Caithness horses are about twelve hands high; and the favourite colours are brown and dark gray. Considerable quantities of poultry were reared in former times, when the rent was paid in kind; but their number has diminished since money-rents were introduced. Abundance of geese are reared, especially upon the coasts. There is likewise a superabundance of swine throughout the lower part of the county. They are of a small breed, not remarkable for fattening quickly; but, when fattened, they become excellent hams and pickled pork. The Gael, or native Highlanders, abhor the flesh of swine, but here they have always abounded.

The minerals of this county have not hitherto proved Minerals, of much value to their owners. Whinstone, granite, and freestone are found; and lime and marl are not wanting. The only fuel which the country produces is peat; which, however, is in great abundance. Great hopes have at different times been entertained that coal might be found;