AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND — 1791-1796. 89 



from time to time the most valuable breed of bulls and 

 cows from England, Guernsey, the Isle of Skye, and other 

 parts of the Highlands of Scotland.' Mr Wight, in his 

 Survey in 1780, says he found at Gordon Castle 'cows of 

 different kinds. The Holderness or Shorthorned kind, and 

 those of our own country were the best milk cows.' He 

 singled out one animal as best, and found she was brought 

 from Prestonhall, in Mid Lothian, where she w^as bred by 

 Lord Adam Gordon, and was a cross between the Scotch 

 and Holderness. In the higher districts of the county, 

 blackfaced sheep were chiefly to be seen. In the lower 

 country, the more substantial farmers had recently intro- 

 duced Culley's breed of sheep. Mr Abercromby Gordon, 

 in his Account of the parish of Banff, notices the existence 

 of the Banffshire Farming Society, which was established 

 in 1785, designed to forward improvements, reward indus- 

 try, and ' produce unanimity and social intercourse between 

 the heritors and farmers.' The Society was ' composed of 

 the noblemen, many of the respectable gentlemen, and the 

 principal farmers of the county.'* 



* Mr David Souter, Melrose, in his Report on the Agriculture of Banff- 

 shire, published in 1812, says that the Society mentioned in the text gradually 

 dwindled, so that a meeting was held, at which it was resolved to invest ' the 

 whole funds of the Society, which then amounted to considerable sum, for 

 carrying on a section of the turnpike road in the county.' Though the Banff- 

 shire Farming Society dwindled, their funds remained ; and at a meeting in 

 March 1823 of the Committee of the Banffshire Farmer Club (which was 

 instituted at Cullen in 1821), the minute of which meeting is before us, 'Mr 

 Milne, Mill of Boyndie, one of the members of the old Banffshire Fanning 

 Society, stated that there was a considerable fund (upwards of ;!^30o) remaining 

 in the hands of the few members of it who were alive,' and proposed that the 

 Cullen Club should accept this sum, and in consideration thereof, should hold 

 shows in Banff and Cullen alternately. Mr Milne's proposal was negatived at 

 a meeting of the Club held in June. In 1825, the Cullen Club made overtures 

 to the remanent members of the old Society ; and ultimately appears to have 

 got possession of the funds. The Cullen Club for many years drew the 

 dividends from the Buchan Road Trust. The schedule of subscriptions in the 

 Road Act, which in 1863 swept away tolls, shows that the Cullen Club held 

 £,\<^'J of subscriptions in that road. The last payment on account of this 

 money was made in 1866, after the amalgamation (in 1863) of the Cullen Club 

 with an association fonned in Banff in 1849. The joint society, now called the 

 United Banffshire Agricultural Association, have, therefore, in these funds, a 

 link of continuity with the old Banffshire Farming Society, established in 1785. 



