1192 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



thf Parmtt*i v i ,• u tur. Velio* turnips tan mm h tow d, md 



Hut i bag 



i ,u . but require* to be earlier town than th* yellow, and, 

 consequently, does not sdmll of n thoruughlj cloning the 



ground. l'.irr..l, Um, N or/mier a, -mil Other TOOf . I' Till ntid 



and distilled bj the reporter, the tart spirit and greavti 

 ■ n, but (bona i<> 

 tii.in turnip, carrot] 

 B Garden* and Orchards. 

 The count) of Aberdeen Is distinguished beyond en 

 count) In the li tiii, far the preparatorj bran h oJ 

 gaideningi via* '»- mMiw ""■ * U ro o pr«wH > d*pth> We have 

 a iiiiiu ■ aidener* m the vicinity of Aberdeen, who 



ruitiv.it>- the lands n the neighbourhood of that ci 

 whosw pt it,. known, and 



e kit' hen ft irdeners, seedsmen, end 

 n urse ry m en. The) raises Eurtheinha 



t the use 



id so c ire- 



, ( rving the landed proprietors in 



,ty, and the owners of villas Dear the towns, they export 



. rsof plant i to England. 



A few good private orchards; the largest that <>f Ferguson 



of Pitfour, of len acres. The site of it, m irl) 60(1 veai 



: Deer, founded In 1X18, and the garden 

 he monastery. It is a striking proof of the lux- 

 u r\ ,,( the Romish i lergy, and of their uncommon skill in the 

 raiting of fruit-trees, that when Ferguson was laying out his 

 new orchard, be found in the abbe) garden, first, rich soil 

 above three feet deep; secondly, a well-paved causeway of 

 granite; thirdly,! h d of pure sand, one fool deep; fourthly, 

 anotbei granite; and below the whole, a consid r- 



i)tli of n h mo.ild. \o greater precaution could have 

 been taken to hinder the roots ot the fruit trees from being in- 

 jured, b) piercing into a cold or wet subsoil* 



!" Woods and Plantations. 



In the 1 herd rision of Mar, occupy nearly 100 square 

 miles, in some plac - very thickly planted, and in others raised 

 by nature, at verj different distances between the trees. Nearly 

 one third has been both enclosed and planted; one third has 

 been raised by nature, without either enclosing or planting the 

 ground ; ana the remainder has been surrounded by fences 

 lor fee ping out tin- cattle, and then been stocked with wood, 

 raised from seed, either blown by the wind, or carried by the 

 rooks, who, by some instinctive impulse, carry the cones ot the 

 Scotch pine in their bills, to provide habitations Cor their otf- 

 spring, at a remote period ; when the seeds contained in these 

 i ones become trees, in which they may build their nests. This 

 supposed instinct in the rooks is more probably called forth 

 with a view to a firm surface to break the cones on; and on 

 mhIi ati open sulfate, also, th \ cones are sooner opened by the 

 h it of the sun, which enables the rooks to hud the seeds with- 

 out labour. In these higher districts, wood grows so easily, 

 th it the proprietor need only enclose an extent of billy ground, 

 and thus shut out the cattle." The wind and the crows will, in 

 time, supply him with se ds. But when these natural woods 

 grow very irregularly, it is found prudent to assist nature, by 

 sowing, or occasionally scratching into the soil, a number of 

 s eds or the trees which are wished to be reared in the vacant 

 Spaces< The greater proportion of these woods consists of 

 Notch pine; it grows slowly at first, but is very valuable. 

 Where the soil is most barren, and the trees grow very slowly, 

 the wood of the Scotch pine is of the l»est quality. A remark- 

 able tree, at Invercauld, was cut down about forty years ago ; 



7853. NAIRNSHIRE and MORAYSHIRE, forming together 512,000 acres of mountainous surface, 

 and some narrow arable vales, are included in one survey. The climate along the Moray Frith lias always 

 been noted for its mildness, which is partly owing to its localities, and partly to the general prevalence of a 

 dry sandy soil. On the mountains the climate is more severe. Lead, iron, lime, marl, freestone, slate, &C. 

 are found, but the first two are not worked at all, and of the others, only the freestone, to any extent. 

 {Leslie's General l'icw t 1810.) 



an. I the number of concentric circles near Its root, vi/. 2V0p 



i to hare grown and Increased in iizarbr££S 

 I Miililnn t . 'it continued stationary* it-* wood was 



iii. tared, bj ail who saw it, to i"- mtu b superior In quailtgi to 

 atu tb it bad erer been Imported from the north of Europe* 

 There are thousands ot pine trees In Braernar, stum- of which 



■n nearly six feet in diame'er, which an Mine] lor, m point of 



wood "i thai denomination that was ever im- 

 ported into anj place in Ofoal Britain* 

 Hi. Improvements. 



Trenching has been already mentioned t within three miles 

 ofAberde enched; some acres paid60Z 



per acre for granite bowlders for exportattaxL Practice of 

 Drenching verj general throughout the county. 



Irri^uti.ni adopted on poor iron-stone clay, not worth two 



shil bags per acre, but raised in r due to two pounds* The ope- 

 rator brought from Gloucester, bj Ferguson of i'ltfour. 



11. Live Stock, 



More cattle bred than in any other county. Scotch cattle 

 fiist Improved by crossing pome Knulish cows sent down by 

 Hem*) \ "ii. to his eldest daughter, queen of .lame, IV. The 

 produce was known a* the Falkland breed. Williamson's three 

 brothers sell annually about 8000 head of cattle of \ irious 

 breeds, in the south-country markets. The) decidedly prefer 

 the true native, unmixed, and raised by good keeping, to tl e 

 mixture of the Falkland, or Fifeshire breed, with that of this 

 county ; and consider both these to be much superior to the 

 English, or to any foreign breeds. They justly remark, that 



the food, Ol keep, should be always above the breed, and not 



the breed above the keep. They consider the small highland 

 cattte, which are generally bought by inferior dealer . 

 restless and impatient for feeding well. They pm Get the native 

 low country breed to the bug- r ones, as tbej are most easily 

 maintainefl, more hardy in work, have flesh of the linest grain, 

 and i 1 1. better in proportion to the goodness of their keep. 

 Every succeeding generation, for the last thirty years, has in- 

 creased in size, and that by good keeping; the native breed is 

 double its former size (i. c. weighs at least double its former 

 weight) since the introduction of the turnip husbandry. They 

 are also decidedly of opinion, that wherever a landed proprietor 

 more than one year for family use, the s;ot should not 

 be tied up, but allowed to feed loose, in order to get gentle ex- 

 ercise along with his food; that the second year he may be put 

 to high feeding, and be tied up, and may le continued with 

 tbi-> hub feeding as long U be seems lo thrive; but that he 



ought to be kiik-.l whenever he loaths his food, or appears to 

 be t ickly, or not thriving! 



J he beep few, and of a mixed breed. Horses are iiatnc 

 ponies, nr purchased from Clydesdale. Poultry very common ; 

 great demand for eggs, both for the Aberdeen and London 

 markets. Red deer ui great numbers in Braemar, and roes on 

 the hills of Cromar. 



12. Manufactures. 



County long celebrated for its woollen manufactures. About 

 lbi.ii, < iarden of Gdconeston, a wealthy sheep farmer and ma- 

 nufacturer, had a daughter, who married Lieutenant I 

 of Cromwell's army, who afterwards vsas made I i> I 



from whom sprang the Duk ■ of Richmond, Karl of I . 

 Lords I ladogan* Vern ■> , Holland, C> J. Fox, and the heads of 

 other eminent English families 



Woollen, linen, and cotton, now extensively manufactured* 

 Knitting of sto- kings and spinning lint formerly common, hut 

 Little attended to since the introduction of machinery. 



1. Property. 

 In vt . estates; as, for example, those of the Duke of 



Gordon, and Earls of Findlater, Moray, Fife, and Lord Cawdor. 



2. Buildings. 



n the alterations in the houses of 

 proprietors, it Is nothing to that which has taken place in those 

 Prior to the year 1760, in the dwellings of tenants 

 there wi re neither floors, ceilings, nor chimneys. In a few of 

 them, the low wall was rudely raised of stone, and clay mor- 

 tar, and h d m II glass window; in oneonl. of the apart- 

 ments was any plaster, and it was raked over the walls in the 



mosi artless manner i a loft, on which the roof rested without 

 an- ride « all, distinguished a very few of the most r^pectable 

 h lull itions. 1 here was in general but one fire (which served 

 »" dnmi as) in the apartment, where the servants 



ttsr, with his wife and maiden daughters, lived and fed 

 together. In the higher parts of the district, matter-, were 

 much worse. Now, upon every farm of anv consideration, the 

 buildings are Substantial, commodious, and' neat. 



3. Occupation, 



As in Kincardineshire; but the arable lands being generally 

 light, the turnip ho ibandrj la more prevalent It is a singular 

 Al In an island in a lake, Loughnadurb, in this county. 

 i). is found more plentiful!-, in a wild 



where else in Britain. This island contains ■ for tr ess, and the 

 report e r conjectures that tor-nips being unreduced at an early 

 period from the Con! nent, the small plot of ground within the 



walls could not lie occupied by any crop more convenii m for 

 Its temporary inhabitants than that of turnips and col' 

 It may he conjectured that the last crap, probably sov i From 

 S"0toliK> years ago, had never been gathered. Unl 



the turnips in this Island sprung up annu Jly in a tin. k bed, 



7854 Jho shires of ROSS. NAIRN, and CROMARTY are three adjoining mountainous districts, colli 

 taming 2,204,800 acres. Tno soil is in general light, randy, OT peat v. Minerals of various kinds have been 

 found, but only Innlding-stones and lime are worked [Mackenzie's General View 1810.) 



1. Property. 



without culture. The root, in some favoured situations, it is 

 saidj had been found of one pound weight! hut they resemble 

 in general the wild kind, having a long root like a small radish. 

 of acid juice, and a rough pointed leaf. Some plants of red 

 Cabbage were also distinguished among them. Both were used 

 as pot-herbs at the tables of the country people, on which ac- 

 count they were sometimes raised in "their gardens. When 

 thev began to run to seed on this island, young cattle were fer- 

 ried in to feed on them. The Rev. Francis Forbes, minister of 

 Grange, has seen rentals of the family of Craigyvar, from which 

 it appears that turnips were paid as an article of rent in the end 

 of the seventeenth century. The quantity (about 200 bushi U) 

 shows that they must have been applied as food for cattle. Hv 

 the famine which unfortunately took place at that period, how- 

 ever, every agricultural branch of industry was so deranged, 

 that this important object, instead of being extended, n 

 there, wholly abandoned. 



The cultivation of turnips, as a food for cattle, was (irst in- 

 troduced into this district, from the county of Norfolk, bv the 

 late Karl of Findlater, about the year 1760". 



When the artificial glasses and herbage plants were intro- 

 duced, only regular gardeners were employed to sow them ; 

 now common country operatives perform the operation. Few 

 orchards; apples imported from England; a few natural 

 woods, and extensive artificial plantations. In general it may 

 be observed, that in this, as in the other counties of the north, 

 even description of improvement has been tried, and such as 

 are tbund to answer, as draining, burning, irrigation, planting, 

 road-making, 5fC- carried to a great < stent. .\ II the improved 

 ents have been tried, and the reporter even proposes an 

 addition to them, in the form of circular harrows; the circle of 

 cast Iron, and the tines of wrought iron, screwed in or fastened 

 wiib nuts and screws. (See fig. 7787.) There is a good deal of 

 fishing carried on along the coast, and in the Moray Frith. 



Is iii few bsnds, and till of lat underwent but few changes. 

 There, are no purees of information from which a precise 



knowledge of the state of agriculture in these and other north- 

 Ij to the rebellion in the rear 17 15, can be 

 d. rm d ; but from what it h.ts been since that 'time, until about 



