FOCHABERS TO SITTYTON. 131 



enjoyment of hounds may be had than in any other 

 that I saw in Scotland.-" It held a very fine scent, 

 and many of its best gorses were made by the late 

 Earl. His " huntsman's stall/' as he termed it, was 

 at Gask, where he rented a farm, and built kennels 

 and stables at his own expense. Of hounds, horses, 

 and hunting, he was a rare judge, and never were ser- 

 vants better mounted. After his death, Mr. Urquhart 

 kept about eighteen couple, and hunted part of the 

 country for three seasons, and since he gave up, the 

 note of a foxhound has not been heard in it. The 

 country in some parts made us half -fancy that we 

 were near Ash down, looking out for the coursers ; 

 but the scarlet of Mr. Nightingale is seen there no 

 longer, and the once great Turriff Club has sunk into 

 a very minor affair among a few farmers. 



Auchry, with its swans and islets on the lake, and 

 the old-fashioned manor-house, quite aided the 'Wilt- 

 shire illusion. Mr. Lumsden owns about four thou- 

 sand acres, and has reclaimed fully a fourth of 

 them from waste and heather. Of this he has laid 

 down about seven hundred acres in permanent pas- 

 ture, and roups it out annually. He uses Border 

 and Leicester tups on half-bred ewes, and his black 

 Essex pigs are from Sexton. At the outset he 

 crossed Ury shorthorn bulls with Aberdeenshire 

 cows, and sold the produce to the butcher at three 

 years old ; but twenty years ago he was smitten with 

 a fancy for the Herefords, and has never since wa- 

 vered. His argument is that they have a thicker 



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