There are no common lands in the parish.

There are 1385 acres covered with plantations of fir, larch, and hard-wood, chiefly the first, of all ages, all very thriving, and in general well attended to. But besides this, there is a great deal of very fine wood, consisting of beech, elm, oak, ash, sycamore, &c. dispersed all over the parish in the form of clumps, rows, and borders. Tulloch, the residence of the principal proprietor, is very richly wooded, which is disposed with great taste, And the fields all over the parish are edged with rows of trees, the disadvantage of which to the farmer is compensated to the public in the luxuriant and picturesque appearance which they impart to the country.

The average rent of arable land in the parish is about L.2 per acre. The lands around the town, which are of superior quality, are very highly rented, some as high as L.4. 10s. per acre.

The average rent of grazing here is at the rent of L.1 per ox or cow, and 3s. per sheep during the year.

The usual rate of wages for farm-servants is from L.7 to L.8 in money, 7 bolls of meal, a quarter of an acre of potatoes, and a free house and garden, worth in all about L.20 per annum. Labourers only occasionally employed are paid at the rate of about 7s. 6d. a-week, and country artisans at about 9s. The average rate of mason work for some years past is from L.1. 16s. to L.2 per rood, journeymen being paid at the average rate of 12s. a-week. Carpenters are paid from 10s. to 12s. a-week; slaters about 12s.; painters from 12s. to 16s. But work of all kinds is done now by estimate, and the rate of wages varies according to the demand, and the qualification of the workman.

The number of sheep and cattle bred in this parish is inconsiderable, the grazing, which is well sheltered by wood, being generally let as wintering for sheep reared in the more mountainous and exposed parts of the country, and as summer grazing for the black-cattle reared by the farmers and cottars around, which are grazed at so much per head. The few sheep produced in the parish, which were formerly the common black-faced breed of the country, are now Cheviot of the most approved breed. The cattle are generally of the Highland stamp, with the exception of some Ayrshire cows, recently introduced. The horses on all the larger farms are Clydesdale, of a superior caste; the cottars still use the small garrons of the country.

The husbandry pursued in the parish is of a very high character. The neatness, extent, and regularity of the fields, and the general appearance of high culture which the farms present frequently excites the surprise of strangers who visit the Highlands for the first time, while the superior quality of the produce secures for it the highest prices in the markets. The implements used are of the most approved description, comprising most of the modern improvements. The systems of cropping practised are the following, chiefly the first:
1st. Six-course rotation for best loam or clay lands: 1 fallow manured, or turnips with manure or bone-dust; 2. wheat or barley; 3. hay; 4. oats; 5. potatoes, peas, or beans manured; 6. wheat –
2d. Five-course rotation for light or gravelly land: 1. turnips; 2. barley or wheat occasionally; 3. hay; 4. pasture; 5. oats, or wheat seldom –
3d. Seven-course rotation for inferior loam or clay: 1. fallow or turnips; 2. wheat or barley; 3. hay; 4. pasture; 5. oats; 6. beans or potatoes; 7. wheat.

Since the date of the former Statistical Account, a great proportion of the arable land of the parish has been brought into a state of culture. A considerable part of this was reclaimed from the sea. It consisted of carse lands lying to the south and east of the town, over which the sea flowed at high water. In the improvement of this, all that was requisite was to exclude the sea by means of embankments (which has been effectually done) and to level the surface, as the want of fall and the nature of the subsoil (a stiff clay) precluded drainage. By the aid of lime and manure, these lands have been brought into a state of great productiveness. Another extensive improvement was the drainage and culture of the low part of Strathpeffer, lying within this parish, consisting of a swampy morass overgrown by stunted alder trees, and commonly called the bog. Through this a channel was cut for the Peffery, sufficiently deep to afford a fall for drainage, by a judicious use of which, and by trenching and levelling the surface, this, which was formerly of so little value as to be used as a common grazing, has become one of the finest farms in the parish.

These improvements were chiefly effected by the tenants who hold their lands on leases of nineteen or twenty-one years and this demonstrates the great advantage resulting, not only to the proprietor but to society generally, from such leases as secure to the occupier the fruits of his enterprise or skill. The lands about town are generally held on leases of five years, the proprietor being unwilling to grant them for longer terms, as they might prove obstacles to improvements, and as the value of land is there more fluctuating.

The farm-buildings throughout the parish are in good repair. They are in general substantial and commodious. The enclosures are chiefly sunk fences and hedges, the latter of which are very badly kept.

The chief obstacles to improvement on the part of the farmer here arise from the frequent inability of the proprietor, owing to circumstances connected with the law of entail, to render the tenant any assistance or encouragement in times of depression. The best remedy for this would undoubtedly be the conversion of money into grain rents, which would render the tenant independent to a great degree of fluctuation in the market prices.

There are three quarries in the parish; one of these, which is situated about one-fourth of a mile from the town, is the property of the public. It is a hard grey sandstone of good quality; but the labour and expense of excavating it are very great, owing to the depth of clay and breccia by which it is covered. The other two, which are private property, are of a fine light-blue colour, affording stone fit for all kinds of work, and susceptible of a very fine polish. It has, however, one disadvantage; there is a small admixture of iron pyrites, upon which the rain in time operates, and stains in a very ugly manner the contiguous stones.

There are no fisheries in this parish, with the exception of a stell salmon-fishing in the Conan, one-third of which belongs to the common good of the burgh, and from which it derives an average revenue of L. 90. There is also belonging to the town a yair fishing in the frith, which pays a trifling rent, but, owing to mal-construction or some other cause, it has been for a few years past very unproductive.

The average gross amount of raw produce raised in the parish, which, owing to a variety of circumstances it would be almost impossible to ascertain with accuracy, may be approximated thus: Assuming the six-course rotation described above to represent the relative proportion of the crops, and the amount of arable land in the parish to be 2888 imperial acres, it follows that: