378 ABERDEENSHIRE STOCK BREEDING 



Kingdom. The soils are all of glacial origin and 

 deeply overlie the rock basis, in fact, most of the 

 minor features of the landscape are due to moraine 

 mounds and other detritus brought down by the ice 

 from the Highlands. As in Moray, all the soils are 

 light and contain but little true clay ; black moss soils 

 are very common, having accumulated in the little 

 undrained hollows left on the surface of the drift. 

 The climate is harder, both colder and with more rain, 

 than in the country farther north ; bitter winters prevail, 

 and spring comes slowly up that way. 



Most of the farming land has been reclaimed within 

 the last 60 or 70 years ; the old farms had a little 

 land round the homestead known as the " Infield," 

 which alone was cultivated ; beyond that lay a rough 

 tract of poor grass, heather, fern, and bog, known as 

 the " Outfield," where the young cattle and sheep 

 scratched a living during the summer months. The 

 tenant obtained a ip-years' improving lease, and piece 

 by piece took the outfield in hand, drawing out the 

 stones and building them into dykes, draining in the 

 early days with broken stone, later with tiles and 

 then liming the newly broken up land. Limestone is 

 to be found in the county, and old limekilns are not 

 uncommon ; but they are all out of use now, for the 

 practice of liming has almost become extinct since the 

 hard times 30 years ago. Not only are the kilns out 

 of order, but imports of lime into Aberdeen have 

 continuously declined in spite of the increased demand 

 for lime for building and industrial purposes. For a 

 generation at least the farmers have been living upon 

 the stock of lime with which their forbears endowed 

 the soil. But that stock has pretty well run out on 

 the sandy as well as on the black moss soils, and 

 finger-and-toe among the turnips has become a most 



