154 FIELD AND FERN. 



then the Cumberland men, finding that the horned 

 beasts took up so much room in their yards, tired of 

 them, and turned their attention to sheep and Irish 

 beasts ; while the Lothians and Fife, which had once 

 clung very tenaciously to the polls, veered round to 

 shorthorn crosses. The result is that only the "very 

 trash of Aberdeen polls" are to be found at Falkirk 

 now, and a very slight sprinkling of Galloways. 



The Aberdeen butchers, who are formed into a 

 guild, and elect a deacon annually, supply themselves 

 in a great measure from Etlon, which has a stock 

 market on the first and third Mondays of every 

 month. Its supplies are chiefly drawn from Buchan 

 and Formartine, and in some of the best spring 

 "markets off turnips" nearly four hundred beasts 

 will be pitched. Old Meldrum has also its fort- 

 nightly gathering of crosses from the parts round 

 Udny and Tarves ; while polls come thicker at 

 Alford, and are found occasionally at Huntly from 

 the Garioch district. A few sheep are sent to Turriff, 

 Huntly, and Inverury; but the great majority are 

 to be found at Brechin in April, and more especially 

 in June, and at Trinity Muir in the same month. 

 The first "Muir" market is more for fat cattle and 

 two-year-old grazing stock, 'and so is the April fair 

 at Glesterlaw in Angus. Still, the leading Aberdeen 

 butchers do not depend on these casual supplies, and 

 take grass parks in summer and turnips in the winter, 

 and buy half-breds or blackfaced wedders from the 

 hiDs to stock them. 



