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to one side, it is of course turned from the wind, and on this ac-count it is not liable to be shaken.
The proprietors should be the first to introduce and cultivatethese kinds of grain, and to purchase and sell them to their te-nants for seed, at prime cost; or even give them gratia, in smallquantities, as premiums to those most deserving of encourage-ment.
2. Little attention is paid to the quality of the seed sown :Qr rather,-in many cases, the weakest and worst of their oatsand bear is selected for this purpose. It is true, that weak grain,which will yield but a small proportion of meal, will spring.But it is equally true, that the plants produced by it must beweak in proportion. Nothing, therefore, can be more prepos-terous than the practice of sowing weak grain. A penny maybe thereby saved in spring, but a pound is lost in harvest.
Hence, in every country where cultivation is carried on wilhjudgment, the utmost care is taken to procure the very best andplumpest grain tor seed. There, too, they arc at much pains tochange their seed from year to year, or as often as they find itnecessary. Yet this precaution is iqr the most part totally over-looked in the Highlands and Hebrides . When the same grain iscultivated on the same soil, without intermission, however richthat soil may be originally, that grain uniformly degenerates.For this cause, a change of seed is absolutely requisite ; and theneglect of this is one cause of the inferiority of the grain of theHighlands and Hebrides , both iu quality and quantity.
Dr Walker specifies an instance in point. Mr Campbell ofDunstaffnage imported bear from Glasgow , which he sowed onhis farm of Icolmkill. Besides a much larger crop, the grainwhich it produced was of superior quality. He sold it at onc-third dearer than any other bear in the island.
But the inferiority of the grain produced in the Highlandsand Hebrides , may be ascribed to,
3. The rotation ol crops raised in these districts. It is in thepower of the tenant to alter this rotation, and by this means im-prove both the quality and quantity of his crop. In place of aperpetual succession of grain, or white crops, which is the pre-valent rotation, a green crop ought to be introduced betweeneach. An alternate succession of white and green crops wouldimprove the whole arable land, and more than double the pro-duce of it. But such a rotation is impracticable, in most partsof the Highlands and Hebrides . A more imperfect rotation,however, is practicable, and would be a great improvement.In every case where bear is sown, grass-seeds should be intro-duced. This would furnish one crop of hay ; and corn mightbe cultivated, after this, with success.
Green crops of many kinds might be throtyn in, over a greatpart of these districts, to great advantage : especially in low-lying