ABEEDEEENSHIEE CATTLE. 39 



pherson, solicitor, Huntl)', we are enabled to produce 

 the communication in full. Mr Macpherson entered the 

 farm of Gibston in 1803, and his letter to Youatt was 

 written from Huntly on 28th September 1832, when he 

 was sixty-three years of age. It proceeds as follows : — 



" The county of Banff and the adjoining counties of Aber- 

 deen and Moray may all be regarded as one district for the 

 present purpose. In the Buchan quarter of Aberdeenshire a 

 variety of the poUed cattle is the principal breed ; but over 

 aU the rest of the district, that which is generally termed the 

 Aberdeenshire horned is the ancient, and is still the prepon- 

 derating stock. It is well known and appreciated by cattle- 

 dealers and graziers from the Moray Firth to Smithfield. 

 These two kinds have existed time out of mind in the dis- 

 trict, and their origin is believed to be equally obscure with 

 that of the other animals, wild and tame, which abound in the 

 land. The Galloway breed of polled cattle was introduced 

 into the district about thirty years since, and has increased 

 so much that it now forms a large portion of the heavy stock 

 in our markets. Several other breeds were also brought in 

 of late years — such as the Ayrshire, and the Teeswater Short- 

 horned from England ; but these are hardly observable in 

 mass, being so few in number. Crosses are numerous be- 

 tween the breeds mentioned ; but these do not appear as dis- 

 tinct classes, being mostly joined to the parent stocks, as they 

 happen to resemble the one kind or the other in size, or the 

 article of horns. They possess, however, some of the quali- 

 ties of both the stocks from which they are derived. A cross 

 between the Argyleshire, reckoned the largest of the real 

 Highlanders, and the heavy-homed, has been found valuable, 

 and encouraged. The homed Aberdeenshire vary greatly in 

 size, according to selection and keeping. In the fertile dis- 

 tricts of the low country, abounding with summer pasture 

 and winter food, they reach at full growth from fifty to seventy 

 stone Dutch, and have been known to feed to the weight of 

 fifteen and sixteen hundredweight. In the hills and barren 

 parts they reach from twenty to thirty stone ; and between 

 these extremes every variety of weight abounds, depending 

 on the circumstances stated. The polled cattle, being kept 

 chiefly in the low country, do not vary so much in size as the 



