78 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 
consumed annually by the live stock of the county. Oats and turnips 
are grown for live stock. Hay and oats are the principal feeding stuffs for 
horses. ‘The 8,000 farmers with holdings of 100 acres and under do most 
of the work of the farm themselves. Those ‘ eident ’ hard-working men 
are the backbone of the county. 
There are 620 registered dairy farmers in Aberdeenshire owning about 
10,800 cows. During 1933 the Milk Agency, voluntarily organised prior 
to the 1931 Marketing Act, handled 54 million gallons, of which 12 million 
gallons were surplus to the liquid needs of the city of Aberdeen. In 
order to encourage an increase in the consumption of milk an advertising 
scheme was started by the Agency and others. The result of this scheme 
was very satisfactory. There was an increase in consumption to the 
extent of over 200,000 gallons when compared with the previous year. 
This is an encouragement to the scheme of advertising throughout the 
whole country. Since milk is of primary importance to the health of 
infants and the young generally an increase in the consumption of liquid 
milk in the North-east would contribute to an increase in the health of 
the community. 
THE BEGINNINGS OF INTENSIVE CULTIVATION.—The particular type of 
cultivation and its intensive character arose through the efforts of men 
like Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk, Udny of Udny, Barclay of Ury, 
and the Earl of Erroll. These landowners and others encouraged 
thorough cultivation of the soil. They brought from the south farm 
hands familiar with the new methods to educate their tenants in the 
new methods. Land was reclaimed first by the landowner and then by 
the farmer. Grasses were sown and turnips introduced throughout the 
whole of the North-east. 
The writer had the privilege, in 1889, of recording the efforts of several 
generations of Aberdeenshire farmers in reclaiming land for cultivation, 
efforts which are typical of the industry of the whole of the north-eastern 
farming community as the result of Jethro Tull’s book, which appeared 
just two hundred years ago. 
THE MAKING OF AN ABERDEENSHIRE HoLDING.—The farm in question, 
Atherb, Maud, was reclaimed by John Milne’s ancestors from 1783 
onwards. At the end of the eighteenth century the rent paid for 56 acres 
was £5, of which 20 acres were reclaimed, the remainder being heather, 
broom and whins. Little produce was sold off the croft. The chief 
source of revenue was the money earned by the women spinning lint. 
The only kind of purchased manure which was applied to the land was 
limestone. By 1841 the rent was £25. Economy had to be severely 
practised. Tea was indulged in only on Sunday morning. Tobacco 
was a luxury not to be thought of. When oatmeal got scarce before 
harvest, the household had to fall back on potatoes. Phosphates in the 
shape of crushed bones was first applied to the land in 1838. Guano 
was applied for oats on new land in 1846 and proved a great boon to the 
tenant. In 1856, a threshing mill—a great factor in the making of 
Aberdeenshire tenant farmers—was installed in Atherb. The total rent 
paid from 1783 to 1878 was £1,640. The landowner paid only £16 on 
repairs during that period. And all the time the land was reclaimed, and 
