384 ABERDEENSHIRE STOCK BREEDING 



far from profitable because they are managed on the 

 same plan as the neighbouring large farms, and there 

 are few openings for the intensively grown special 

 products which should be the mainstay of the small 

 holder. Milk production is increasing; some of the 

 large farms also have recently taken to the business, 

 and one of the wholesale purchasers has facilitated 

 matters for the small farmer by establishing depots 

 along the roadside where the full churns are left to be 

 collected by a single wagon working between the 

 farthest farm and railhead. The sale of fresh milk is, 

 however, not general, and the crofters depend mainly 

 upon raising store cattle for their larger neighbours to 

 fatten. The admission of Canadian stores would prob- 

 ably finish off the Aberdeen crofters ; their numbers 

 are shrinking already through emigration, and we were 

 informed that there are no applicants from this district 

 for small holdings under the new Land Act. Most 

 of the crofters who hold their own are engaged in 

 some other business also the carpenter, the mason, 

 the postman were instanced : in many cases they do 

 not keep a team, but get their ploughing, etc., done by 

 contract. It is the small holder entirely dependent 

 on his farming who tends to disappear, and the cause 

 is really the rising standard of living and the oppor- 

 tunities emigration offers. For this reason the loss 

 is not entirely to be deplored. Away in the hills, not 

 only in the Highlands, but south of the Forth also, 

 may be seen traces of old crofts where only the sheep 

 and the grouse now abide ; the men who tilled them 

 worked as no slaves ever work for a bare subsistence, 

 always hovering on the brink of starvation. The 

 history of these deserted holdings is to some extent 

 being repeated now ; the old men persist in the old 

 homes, but their sons will not face the life, and it is 



