371
Swine are not so numerous as they were formerly. Poultryare very abundant. Pigeons are not so plentiful as in the Lo-thians. Bees are a favourite stock with the tenants and countrymechanics, but are attended to rather as an amusement thanwith a view to profit. One circumstance is worthy of remark,that a hive brought down from the hills to the low country orcoast-side is always more industrious, and thrives better for a,year or two than those hives that have been reared there.
2. Aberdeenshire.
1. Cattle. This county draws yearly for cattle, sent either toEngland or the South of Scotland, so large a sum as 150,000/.They are now in great repute in the English markets. Many ofthem, when fed in the county, reach 100 stones and upwards,the four quarters. The whole number is about 110,000, ofwhich the cows are nearly 28,000. The total value of cattlekilled in the county, and sold to other districts, may be estimat-ed at 250,000/.; and of dairy produce 230,000/.; amounting to-gether to 480,000/., the annual revenue derived from cattle.The value of the whole stock, including the annual sales, is stat-ed at nearly a million of pounds sterling. Oxen are still workedin this county ; they perform only one yoking or journey daily,that is, they work only half the time that horses do. Upon largefarms, two pairs of oxen are kept for one plough, and each pairworks in rotation.
2. In this, as in the adjacent counties, Sheep are almost con-fined to the higher grounds. They are partly of the nativebreed, and partly Black-fisced. The total number is less thanthat of black cattle, being about 100,000, which are valued atas many pounds. The number killed annually is worth nearly30,000/. V
3. Horses are of all sizes, from the Highland poney to theClydesdale horse. In bartering horses with other counties, thereis supposed to be a loss of 20,000/. annually. The number ofwork and saddle horses, per the Collector’s books, amounts to8605.
Swine are much diminished in number of late years, there notbeing above 1000 in the county. Poultry are very numerous ;and the annual sales of them and their eggs, with the value ofthe home consumption, are supposed to amount to 20,000/.Bees, it is said, are too much neglected. ‘ The great objectionto the keeping of bees is the expense of feeding them in an un-favourable spring. An ingenious friend of the Reporter’s hascontrived to keep them in an ice-house in a state of insensibility,which is a saving of their winter provision. ’ Aberdeenshire lie-,port, p. 509.