Sir G. S. Mackenzie says:--"There are no sources of information from which a precise knowledge of the state of agriculture in the northern counties, previous to the rebellion in 1745, can be derived; but from what it has been since that time, it may safely be concluded that agricultural knowledge was neither sought for nor desired. The mode of management which has been practised in this county (Ross-shire) and in other parts of the Highlands, and which has been handed down from father to son for many generations, is still to be found in the midst of the most improved districts. We still see the arable land divided into small crofts, and many of the hills occupied as commons. On the west coast particularly, the ground is seen covered with heaps of stones, and large quantities are collected on the divisions between the fields, so that a considerable portion of the land capable of cultivation is thus rendered useless by the indulgence of the most unpardonable sloth. The management of the native farmers is most destructive. The soil of one field is dug away to be laid upon another; and crop succeeds crop until the land refuses to yield anything. It is then allowed to rest for a season, and the weeds get time to multiply. Such, we must suppose, was the system of farming before the rebellion; we cannot imagine it to have been worse." Coming to the nineteenth century, Sir G. S. Mackenzie writes as follows of the parish of Gairloch:--"The business of farming is but ill understood; and it certainly is surprising that proprietors, and the holders of long leases though of old date, should have their land in very bad order, and stock of a quality inferior to that which their ancestors possessed fifty years ago. There are a few exceptions no doubt; but the attachment to ancient customs is nowhere more strongly fixed than in this district. The time, however, has at length arrived when the people must shortly change their habits, or quit the country. The labour which is required for small farms occupies but a small portion of the time of the tenants; but they are so perversely indolent and careless that, while they see people from Inverness and Argyleshire, who in their own counties pay much higher rents, employed in fishing, making kelp, &c., and receiving high wages, none of them can be engaged for such labour. This is the case in general; and although, from my connection with this part of the country, I may have remarked the habits of the people more particularly than elsewhere, yet, from the various testimonies I have received, I can safely assert that the censure of indolence is not applicable to the inhabitants of this district only."