lSc4. JDr Keith's Evl^'tice hefire the Ma/t-Td.x Comtfiittee. 347 



is both fo fmall at beft, and Is alfo To fiuduating. I don't think that 

 we have 200 quartfrs raifcd, communibus anriijf in the whole county ; 

 perhaps little more than 100 quarters annually. But of bear or bij^g 

 tve raifc a great deal ; and to ^ive any tiling like a corrcdt idea of this, 

 1 muft (Ute the averaees at dtfcrent prrocls ; for a (general average would 

 rathtr inillead, than cciivcy uleful inform^.tion. Before the introdudioa 

 of the turnip hufbandiy in this county (which cannot be traced farther 

 back than forty years, and was not general till twenty years a<^o) we 

 had probably 14,000 or 15,000 Scots acres, of what we termed our 

 /«/?r/J lands, annually fown witli bear or bi^^g ; and the produce varied 

 from 3 5, ceo to nearly 50,000 quarters, accordincr as the feafons were 

 good or bad. Ttn years ago, when there was a iibtral competition be- 

 tween the brewers in the towns and the numerous licenfed dillillers who 

 wete fcattered over the county (which occafioned a great dctniind for 

 btar or bigg) the great wide balks, or pieces of barren land, between 

 the ridgtB of our infield or old croft lands, were ploughed up, the 

 dillindlion between infield and outfield ground wds gradually abolifhed, 

 and a great proportion of the latter was limed and manured for a crop 

 ©f turnips ; and then laid down with bear and grafs feeds. Our agri- 

 culture at. this time was rapidly advancing towards perfeftion ; and, at: 

 this period, or from i 790 to 1799, the quantity ot bear or bigg annually 

 raifed was more than double of what it had been twenty or thirty years 

 before, varying from 8c,oco to about 1 10,000 quarters, according to 

 the goodnefs of the feafons. But the greater part of the county of 

 Aberdeen being deprived of the privileges of the intermediate diltrict 

 in regard to diltillation, and being fubjtded to the fame laws, in regard 

 to thi?, to which the Lowland counties of Scotland arc fubjec^, all our 

 diilillers, except a few in the Highland diPiiIft of the county, were 

 ihipped in i8co, as they were not able to take out licenfes on thfc 

 v:onditions then fixed, and at the high licenfe duty Impofed on the 

 contents of their ilills ; and by depriving us of the demand from our 

 ilcenfvd diftillers, our agriculture received a very fevere chsck. In 

 1802, it was flill more deeply injured by the great addition to the malt- 

 lax, and by imp«fing the fame addition upon all kinds or malt made 

 either in England or in Scotland ; which altered fo very conliderably 

 the proportion of ti^e ratio of taxation between EngHdi and Scotch 

 malt, and was peculiarly unfavourable to the raifing of bear or bigg in 

 this county. This greatly reduced the quantity of that fpccies of grain 

 which was fown in 1802 and 1803 ; and this year 1 believe we will not 

 fow much more than we did forty years ago. The crop of iSc2 wa« 

 very light, and required at leaft one fourth part to be taken off or 

 winnowed away in the drelTing, owing to the coldnefs of the fummer, 

 and the latenefs of the harveii ; fo that it could not afford to pay the 

 high taxes on malt ; but was either given to our cattle, or made into 

 bearmeal, or ilill remains unfold. I know I could not fell my own 

 bigg (whether my fiipend bear, or what was raifed on mv glebe) at any 

 ^rice to a maltfter ; and that 1 was obliged to get it all made into meal 

 iaft autumn, when it fdd only at 7d. or 7^d. per Abcrdc€n(hirc peck, 

 VOL. Y» r«o. ip. Z - ' or 



