better crops would enable more stock to be maintained and a progressive cycle of improvement would result . the farm lies at an altitude of around 1,000 ft and forms a rather narrow strip from west to east - high at the west and falling through about two-thirds of its length to a small burn which traverses the farm . east of the burn the land again rises towards the boundary . the soil generally is a medium loam , somewhat thin and rocky on the hilly part near the west boundary and peaty in the hollow near the burn . the soil is not inherently infertile , but on entry the farm was in very poor heart . the initial rental was &amp;pound;70 per annum with an agreement that this would be raised to &amp;pound;100 when the existing byre was gutted and made into a covered court . this was the only alteration made to the steading . with the farm in such poor condition the first need was to improve the grassland . soil analyses showed all the land to be very low in lime and the major nutrient elements . during the first two winters , therefore , practically the whole farm was limed at the rate of two tons of ground limestone per acre . such grassland as had to be temporarily retained was given a dressing of some 7 cwt per acre of potassic supers supplemented by an application of 1-2 cwt Nitro-Chalk in the spring . the land which had been under green crop was re-seeded direct and on all fields from which oats were being taken the crop was undersown with Italian and perennial ryegrass , the object being to supplement the grazing and provide something to plough down and improve the organic matter content of the soil . cropping . it should be realised that cropping in this area and at this altitude is no easy matter . the winters are very severe , snow frequently persisting into April , and late spring frosts are common . this holds up spring work badly and retards sowing while heavy autumn rains and early frosts or even snow storms make harvesting equally difficult . the advent of the tractor in enabling more rapid cultivations to be carried through as soon as weather conditions permit has undoubtedly helped to overcome these hazards . before it was taken over the cropping system on Clashnoir had been irregular , but by 1949 it was being worked on a regular seven course rotation common in the area . with a regular lea break of around 17 acres the cropping was oats , oats , green crop , oats ( sown down ) and hay , followed by two years &apos; grazing . as the primary intention was to base the economy of the farm on high production from the grassland for both summer and winter , what would have been the normal root break was reduced to three acres and the balance sown down to a one year &apos;s special mixture for cutting as silage . later , when the fertility of the farm had been improved and the stocking stabilised , some four acres of rape were regularly grown in addition to the turnips , the former crop being used to finish off the lambs before marketing . the special one year &apos;s mixture grown for silage was the usual perennial , Italian and red clover mixture recommended by the College , while the grass seeds mixtures sown were also based on College experience using combinations of early and late maturing strains of ryegrass and cocksfoot to give continuity of growth for as long a grazing season as possible . in the control of grazing , use was made of the electric fence and surplus grass was cut for silage ; about one hundred tons of silage was made annually in an ordinary pit silo . most of the oats grown in the early years were consumed by the stock on the farm , but as the farm improved an increasing proportion of the crop was generally sold , frequently for seed purposes . the greater quantity of straw produced was also welcome as the stock increased . manuring . while high production from the grassland was the primary aim , the land was not exploited and a balanced system of manuring was practised . in addition to the initial liming a dressing of two tons ground limestone per acre was applied to each field once in the rotation . depending on the condition of the fields , the oat crops latterly received applications of 3-4 cwt of a complete concentrated fertiliser combine-drilled and the turnip crop 8-10 cwt of a regular turnip manure in addition to dung . during the earlier years when fertility was low the dressings were correspondingly heavier . when available , basic slag was applied at 10 cwt per acre to land which was sown down , after harvesting the nurse crop . in the early stages there was a dearth of farmyard manure , but after the first few years there was ample to give the turnip land and the balance of the normal root break a regular and adequate dressing . again depending on the condition of the field , its age and the purpose for which it was intended - whether for hay , to be cut for silage or grazed - the grassland was regularly treated with 2-3 cwt potassic supers supplemented with 1-1 1/2 cwt Nitro-Chalk or with 3-4 cwt of a high nitrogen fertiliser . stocking . at ingoing , the cattle stock consisted of twelve breeding cows and calves and some 170 Blackface ewes were kept between Clashnoir and Thain . the cattle stock was transferred to Deskie and in 1949 , 21 pure bred Aberdeen-Angus in-calf heifers were purchased in the open market at commercial prices . it was anticipated that with the manuring undertaken the farm could carry this number , and it was proposed to breed cross calves which would be suckled and sold off their mothers in the autumn . using a white Shorthorn bull this became more or less the practice . as the fertility of the land improved , the number of cattle carried was increased until latterly the herd numbered around thirty . this number might have been increased further , but accommodation for handling them during the winter was the limiting factor . with good foundation breeding stock and using good class bulls , the stock sold from Clashnoir soon became well known and commanded very creditable prices in the local market , while several were brought on by purchasers and gained awards at both the Edinburgh fat stock show and at Smithfield . early calves were regularly sold at the autumn sales , while the odd late calves were kept over their first winter and sold as convenient the following spring or later as six-quarter cattle . the herd became attested in 1952 , but the normal hazards of farming were encountered and the odd calf ( and cow ) were lost as on any other farm . in 1954 when the stock was being further increased some heifers were purchased in the open market . the following spring ten of the cattle aborted . fortunately , as a result of prompt precautions being taken , there were no further losses the following year . when the cattle stock was increased so markedly in 1949 a drastic reduction was made in the sheep stock . the breeding flock was reduced to 30 ewes and remained at this figure until , in the autumn of 1953 , it was felt that this could be increased . forty ewes were kept and twenty gimmers purchased . a stock of around sixty breeding sheep was kept thereafter , being replaced one-third annually by the purchase of a score of Blackface gimmers . the ewes were crossed with the Border Leicester tup and the lambs and cast ewes sold at the autumn sales . for disease prevention the lambs were regularly treated with the double vaccine for lamb dysentery and pulpy kidney within twenty-four hours of birth . with a small stock on an enclosed area this was not a difficult matter . the only other treatment regularly practised was the dosing of the ewes with phenothiazine in the spring and both ewes and lambs before the autumn sales . the only other livestock maintained was a flock of some 200 poultry kept on semi-intensive lines . no breeding was undertaken , the stock being kept up by the purchase of 100 three-month-old pullets each spring . eggs were disposed of through the district packing station and the culls and old hens sold to a local butcher . while this general picture of the way the farm was run will be of interest to the practical farmer , it is the economic aspect which the experiment was undertaken to test . this aspect is treated in detail in the next section of this report , but in considering it three points should be borne in mind . firstly , it should be viewed as a whole and not strictly in individual financial years because , when the production of livestock and crops extends over more than a single financial year , profits in any one year are at least partly derived from the farming operations of previous seasons . secondly , the subsidies credited to the accounts were only those to which an ordinary farm tenant would be entitled . perhaps the most important point of all is the fact that capital was available for expansion as required . improvements on similar farms would depend not only on the urge to expand being present but also on credit facilities being available and on farmers being willing to take advantage of these facilities . even so , as the later sections of this report show , the extra capital required to finance the improvements of Clashnoir was by no means excessive in relation to the increase in profits which ensued . 3 . production . there was a fairly steady upward trend in the value of output throughout the period of the experiment . in the appendix , table 4 , figures are given of net output per acre which rose from &amp;pound;10 8 s in 1949/50 to &amp;pound;19 2 s in 1954/55 . after a temporary set-back in 1955/56 there was a further rise to &amp;pound;19 6 s in 1956/57 . after the breeding herds and laying flocks were established , about 1950/51 , the pattern of output did not greatly change . the cattle enterprise generally accounted for around one-third of the output , sheep and wool for about one-sixth , crop sales for about a quarter and eggs for about one-seventh . rising prices , of course , played a considerable part in the doubling of the value of output between the beginning and end of the experiment . the increase in the physical volume of production was less marked but was nevertheless quite significant , particularly for sheep , wool and eggs , as is shown in table 1 . most of the cattle were sold as weaned calves in the autumn and these realised very satisfactory prices which generally averaged over &amp;pound;40 in the later years of the experiment , except for 1955/56 ( appendix , table 5 ) . this was a reflection of the high quality and good reputation of the breeding cattle stock . a calving rate of about 95 per cent was maintained over the nine years , with the exception of the 1955 season when , following the outbreak of contagious abortion , fewer than two-thirds of the cows calved successfully . the increased number of ewes carried on the farm from 1952 onwards , together with an improvement in the lambing rate from about 130 per cent in the early years to about 145 per cent latterly , led to an increase of nearly 50 per cent in numbers of lambs sold . the prices realised for these lambs were generally rather above the average market levels for Greyfaces ( appendix , table 5 ) . while the laying flock made a significant contribution to the output of the farm , there was no attempt to make poultry more than a subsidiary enterprise ; many farms similar to Clashnoir in other respects carried much larger poultry enterprises . once the poultry flock was established , egg sales averaged about 2,000 dozens annually though with some variation from year to year . this represented an annual yield , after allowing for some eggs used in the farmhouse , of about 180 eggs per laying bird . crop sales consisted almost entirely of oats and in most years a large part of the crop was sold for seed at attractive prices ( appendix , table 6 ) . with the improvement in fertility , increased yields per acre made it possible to maintain and to some extent to increase the surplus of oats for sale , even though consumption on the farm also rose . 