Dr. James Coull
Scottish Studies, 7, (1963).
Oats are the only other crop of significance for the animals : potato oats as well as sandy oats now figure in the system, and with the new varieties they can still mature when sown in mid - May as opposed to the old practice in mid - April. A few turnips also are grown for stock feed, but only five crofters had patches of them in 1960. Every croft still has its own potato patch, but these are much less grown with the decline of the crop as a food staple. In all, however, less than a twentieth part of the inbye land is now ploughed up annually - even with the more active crofters the fraction is seldom more than one quarter (see Fig. 5). Artificial fertilisers now supplement manure on the land, and no seaweed is now applied. By far the greater part of the croft land is now under permanent grass: the better parts of this are cut for hay, the amount varying with the weather of the season, but most of it is grazed only.
Three crofters have Ferguson tractors, and one of these now does most of the ploughing for the district on a contract arrangement. Even so, part of the land is still turned by spade for potatoes - in 1959 for example, one Skinnid crofter turned as much as half an acre. The contractor also does a good deal of mowing of the hay, but most of it is still cut by scythe, as is most of the oats. There are several small tractors and three horses still which help in the work on the land-such as taking out manure or taking in hay and oats; but part of the latter is still carried on the backs of men and women.
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