THE COUNTIES OF FORFAE AND KINCARDINE. 69 



present great diversity of scenery, here rising in rounded heiglits, 

 there sinking in easy undulations, now swelling in sunny slopes, 

 and, anon, retiring in winding glens or rounded valley-basins of 

 great beauty and fertility." A more correct description of this 

 part of Forfarshire it would be impossible to give. 



Along the Kincardineshire coast, from the mouth of the Xorth 

 Esk to Stonehaven, the soil varies from deep rich loam to thin 

 poor black earth or stiff cold clay. A medium loam predomi- 

 nates. In the parishes of Benholm and St Cyrus, there is a 

 good deal of moderately heavy fertile loam, which produces 

 excellent crops. In Bervie, there is also some very good 

 loam, but on almost every farm there is considerable variety, 

 part being free black loam, resting on an open subsoil, part 

 red or brown stiff clay, and part thin and moorish. Similar 

 remarks apply to Kinneff and Dunnottar. On the Garvock 

 Hill the soil is cold, stiff, and sour, heavy to cultivate, and even 

 when well cultivated only moderately fertile. The greater part 

 of the Howe of the Mearns is similar to the main portion of the 

 valley of Strathmore in Forfarshire, the soil being, as a rule, a 

 reddish loam, resting on sand, gravel, or clay. Gravel predomi- 

 nates on the north-western slopes, and clay on the south- 

 eastem. Generally speaking, the soil of the Howe is not quite 

 equal to the Forfarshire part of the Great Valley, but still near 

 Fettercairn, in some parts of Fordoun, and elsewhere, there is 

 some very rich land. Around the village of Fettercairn the soil 

 is deep, strong, rich loam ; but in other parts of this parish, and 

 in Edzell, Laurencekirk, and Fordoun, not a little of the land 

 consists of moderate black loam or stiffish clay. Taken as a 

 whole, Fordoun is an excellent agricultural parish, there being 

 in it a large breadtli of really good substantial clayey loam. 

 The soil on the best farms in Fordoun and Laurencekirk is a 

 heavy loam, with an admixture of clay. In some seasons it is 

 not very easily reduced to a satisfactory tilth, but when well 

 worked and liberally manured, it yields abundantly, and is 

 rented at from 35s. to 45s. per acre. Along the slopes on the 

 hill sides the soil is thin friable loam. In the parish of Glen- 

 hervie there is some good clay loam, but there is also a good 

 deal of thin reddish land that produces only moderate crops. 

 There are some deposits of moss in this parish. In the parish 

 of Fetteresso, near Stonehaven, the soil is mostly sharp friable 

 loam, but in the more inland and higher parts it is an inferior 

 clayey or moorish loam. Througliout the nortliern half of Kin- 

 cardine, tlie soil consists mninly of decomposed granite, with an 

 admixture of moss and other vegetable substances. In tlie 

 parishes of Lanchory-Devenick, Nigg, and ^laryculter, tlie 

 surface is remarkably stoney, large blocks of granite being very 

 numerous on all uncultivated patches. It would seem that the 



