The Bad Harvest of 1782. 53 



island had not suffered nearly so much; and hence 

 flour imported from England became comparatively so 

 plentiful in Aberdeen as to be cheaper than oatmeal ; 

 one result of which was that the Governors of Robert 

 Gordon's Hospital ordered coarse flour to be used in that 

 Institution instead of oatmeal. 



To meet a deficiency of the character indicated was no 

 slight matter. A somewhat sanguine narrator of the oc- 

 currences of the time (Dr James Anderson) speaks of the 

 " unanimous resolution" of the meeting of proprietors 

 and principal inhabitants, that "all ranks" should abstain 

 from malting bear. The usual annual yield of that 

 grain, we are told, was estimated at 80,000 bolls. Half 

 of this, it was thought, could be made into meal, yield- 

 ing say 60,000 bolls. The estimated " saving in con- 

 sequence of scarcity" (in other words, the depth of the 

 hunger bite) was put at 35,000 bolls ; accelerating next 

 harvest by early sowing, " and mealing it as soon as 

 possible," might, it was thought, be equal to 25,000 bolls; 

 and, as the past harvest, by its lateness, had shortened 

 the period of waiting, a favourable season, with very 

 prompt resort to early potatoes, might give another gain 

 of a month, or say 25,000 bolls. This would leave the 

 actual deficiency in the meal supply of the county at 

 75,000 bolls. And this estimate, it is added, was 

 pretty near the actual state of the case. The total 

 importation was about 80,000 bolls. 



The sentiments of the County Meeting found osten- 

 sible expression in a minute remarkable for its unusual 

 length and the copiousness of its style.* It sets forth that 

 in order to prevent the inhabitants from experiencing a 

 total want of food before another crop can be brought 

 to maturity, it is a matter of necessity " that every 

 individual shall observe the most frugal economy in 

 regard to piovisions; that the smallest article which 



* If a guess might be hazarded on the point, the internal evidence 

 would seem to indicate that this minute had been drafted by Dr, 

 James Anderson, 



