58 Notes and Sketches. 



charitable " individuals made offer of sums without in- 

 terest to pay for the pease purchased; and others "cheer- 

 fully promised " their assistance in fetching the pur- 

 chase home. The price of the pease was <! 2s (ster- 

 ling) per boll ; and as the carts told off to convey the 

 " fourty bolls " numbered fourteen double and three 

 single carts, the separate loads would not be very large 

 even for a twenty mile journey. The quantity of pease- 

 meal yielded was " not fully sixty bolls," and as the 

 cost, including milling and drying, was <44 16s. 8d., 

 the Session found they could not sell their peasemeal 

 under Is. per peck. What happened next was that, 

 under supervision of the elders, appointed to the duty 

 in turn, over forty bolls were sold, and four bolls given 

 away gratis early in May. It was not till July that five 

 bolls of meal were got from. " the Royal bounty ;" and 

 between that and the beginning of November it seems 

 to have been a continued struggle with want. One or 

 two further doles were got from the Government grant ; 

 while the Session, in addition to distributing the re- 

 mainder of their own purchase, bought a further supply 

 of oatmeal when harvest had come to distribute among 

 poor people who, from the long distress, were unable to 

 supply themselves even after the price had fallen. 



The " ill years 1782-3" had the effect of ruining many 

 farmers in Aberdeenshire, and some landlords as well ; 

 and a good deal of emigration to America followed. 

 And while a further result was to stimulate improve- 

 ment by the introduction of earlier and better varieties 

 of grain, and greater attention to green crops, the neces- 

 sities of the time greatly promoted the granting of long 

 leases during the immediately succeeding years. Pre- 

 viously the leases given had been of varying length, 

 seven, nine, twelve, fifteen, or nineteen years being 

 terms occasionally granted indifferently by the same 

 proprietor. The prevailing poverty on both sides made 

 it an object now to secure substantial tenants ; and thus, 

 when a man, possessed of a few hundred pounds 



