AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND — 179I-1796. 83 



In the more remote parts of the county, neither the system 

 of agriculture nor the implements of husbandry had under- 

 gone any improvements. Mr Barclay's efforts at improve- 

 ment were rivalled, or seconded, by those of Lord Kintore, 

 and especially of Lord Gardenston. The farm houses 

 generally are described by Mr Donaldson as most unsatis- 

 factory, being dark, dirty, dismal, comfortless huts. The 

 roads are spoken of as in a most ruinous condition ; and 

 although a Turnpike Bill had been for some years in con- 

 templation, no progress had been made in any preliminary 

 measures for procuring a Road Act. Considerable im- 

 provements are recorded in the condition of the live stock 

 of the county. The black cattle are described as of various 

 breeds. The Holderness had been introduced for several 

 years, and a cross of that breed was prevalent. The Lanca- 

 shire cattle had also been introduced, but they were found 

 unsuitable, alike for the pasture and the climate. As 

 regards horses, ' that great improvement, ploughing with a 

 man and a horse with a driver, was first introduced by Mr 

 Barclay, and to this alteration in the mode of cultivating 

 the soil was to be attributed the great improvement which 

 had taken place in the breed of horses.' The price paid 

 for a pair of plough horses varied from ;^30 to £60. Sheep 

 were mostly of the blackfaced Linton breed. A feature in 

 connection with the county was the large fair at Fordoun, 

 called St.' Palladius Fair, held in the month of July, at 

 which 3000 cattle were exposed in one day, the average 

 value of which was estimated at £'^ or £6 each. 



Dr Anderson's* report on the condition of agriculture 

 in Aberdeenshire, which is dated 1794, gives rather an 

 unfavourable picture of the state of the county. No Turn- 

 pike Act had been obtained for any portion of the county, 



* Dr Anderson, who was a native of Hemiiston, near Edinburgh, was 

 induced by Mr Udny of Udny to settle in Aberdeenshire, \vhere he leased, for 

 three terms of 21 years from Mr Udny, the Land of Monksholm, with the 

 farms of Culter-Cullen, Davieshill, &c., in the parish of Foveran. Dr Ander- 

 son, who married in 1768 Miss Seton of Mounie, left Aberdeenshire in 1783 

 for Edinburgh, and about 1797 removed to London. He died in 1808 at 

 Westham, near London, 



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