AGRICULTURE IN THE NORTH-EAST 79 
the soil improved by the application of manures, the total sum expended 
from 1885 to 1899 being £1,444. ‘This is one example among thousands 
of tenant farmers ‘ tyauvin’’ to make a livelihood, morning, noon and 
even night. Of such stuff is the north-eastern farmer made. 
Earty Recorpinc.—A sidelight on the interest in records taken by 
farmers in the North-east was recently provided by Dr. C. W. Sleigh 
in a paper! in which he gave extracts from a journal written between 
1793 and 1797. ‘This journal contained barometric and thermometric 
records and records of the names and the work of farm hands, the rate 
of pay, the horses and oxen employed, the hoeing of turnips, pulling and 
threshing lint, live stock and grain disposed of and many other details, 
including the most important of all entries, namely, money received 
and money paid. A farmers’ club existed in Aberdeenshire in 1758. 
Papers were read by its members giving the results of experiments. This 
club was therefore the precursor of the North of Scotland College of 
Agriculture, which was instituted in 1904. 
THE NorTH OF SCOTLAND COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE.—The first 
provision for Agricultural Instruction in the North of Scotland was a 
bequest in 1790 by Sir William Fordyce for lectures in chemistry, natural 
history and agriculture at Marischal College. The bequest became 
effective in 1840 after the expiry of a life-rent, and thereafter a course 
of twelve lectures was delivered each year. In 1892 the Fordyce 
Foundation was merged with other university trusts, and the University 
of Aberdeen became responsible for the lectures. 
To provide for further development, the North of Scotland College 
of Agriculture was established in 1904 and became responsible for the 
Agricultural Department in Marischal College, one of the colleges of 
the University of Aberdeen. 
The former lecturers, who were under the Joint Committee and were 
taken over by the College, were Mr. R. B. Greig (now Sir Robert Greig, 
late Secretary of the Department of Agriculture for Scotland), Fordyce 
Lecturer ; Mr. James Hendrick (now Professor of Agriculture in the 
University), Lecturer in Agricultural Chemistry ; the late Mr. J. M. 
Young, Lecturer in Veterinary Hygiene ; and the late Prof. J. W. H. 
Trail, Lecturer in Agricultural Botany and Agricultural Zoology. At 
the present time, the staff of the College has increased to a total of sixty- 
three full-time officials, including organisers and instructresses resident 
in all the counties of the North of Scotland. There are in addition a 
number of part-time lecturers. 
The nett expenditure of the College in its first year amounted to about 
£5,000. It now stands at about £28,000. 
In 1911 arrangements were made for the purchase of the estate of 
Craibstone, situated about five miles from Aberdeen, in order to establish 
an experimental farm which is largely taken advantage of by the farming 
community. In addition to the College Farm, a School of Rural Domestic 
Economy, opened in 1923, is accommodated on the estate, while there is 
also a large forest demonstration area where a great variety of trees 
has been planted. 
1 Transactions of the Buchan Field Club, 1931, vol. xiv, pp. 63-77. 
