HILL OF SKILMAFILLY HERD. 245 



there are a lot of very nice calves after the Pride bull The 

 Black Knight 1809, an animal of great substance, good 

 shapes, and quality. Mr Farquharson is very particular 

 in having in his place bulls of the best pedigree, combined 

 with individual merit. One of the first bulls used was 

 an animal of splendid breeding and superior style and 

 quality. He was Garibaldi of Haughton 707, after Rob 

 Roy Macgregor 267, and out of Pride of Aberdeen 581. 

 Mr Farquharson exhibited him at the International Show 

 at Battersea in 1862, where he gained the second prize as 

 a two-year-old. Victor of Kelly 3rd 854, of the Victoria 

 branch of the Queen tribe, came from Mains of Kelly ; 

 Emir 1498, out of that excellent milking cow Miss 

 Macpherson 1252, of the Erica tribe, from Balquharn; 

 and The Black Knight 1809, of the Pride family, from 

 Mr Pearson of Johnston. There are usually from ten to 

 twelve cows in the herd, and they are all used as dairy 

 cows, their calves being hand-reared. 



Hill of Skilmafilly. 



In 1863 a heifer out of Fyvie Flower 1516 was pur- 

 chased by the father of Mr George Eraser, the present 

 tenant of Hill of Skilmafilly, from Colonel Gordon of 

 Fyvie. He made subsequent additions until 1867, when 

 Mr George Eraser took over at valuation the farm stocking, 

 with the exception of a two-year-old heifer, out of the 

 animal purchased in 1863. In 1868 Mr Eraser bought 

 a bull and three heifer calves at Fyvie Castle, and made 

 a number of other additions from the same herd. In 

 1879 the heifer Annie Lawrie of Skilmafilly 4253 was 

 bought from Colonel Gordon. Of these animals, Belle of 

 Skilmafilly 4535 is still in the herd, although fourteen 

 years old. She was in February last at the drop, her 

 nineteenth calf, although she was thirty-five months old 

 at her first calving, having had twins four times. After 



