Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/60

Rh 44 A-BEBDEENSHIBE Mar, with parts of the coast bold and rocky, and with the interior bare, low, flat, undulating, and in parts peaty. On the coast, six miles south of Peterhead, are the Bullers of Buchan, a basin in which the sea, entering by a natural arch, boils up violently in stormy weather. Buchan Ness is the eastmost point of Scotland. Fourth, Garioch, a beautiful, undulating, loamy, fertile valley, formerly called the granary of Aberdeen, with the prominent hill Benachie, 1676 feet, on the south. Fifth, Stratlibogie, mostly con sisting of hills (The Buck, 2211 feet; Noath, 1830 feet), moors, and mosses. The county as a whole, except the low grounds of Buchan, and the Highlands of Braemar, consists mainly of nearly level or undulating tracts, often naked and infertile, but interspersed with many rich and highly cultivated spots. Elvers. The chief rivers are the Dee, 96 miles long; Don, 78; Ythan, 37, with mussel beds at its mouth; Ugie, 20; and Deveron, 58, partly on the boundary of Banff shire. The pearl mussel occurs in the Ythan and Don. A valuable pearl in the Scottish crown is said to be from the Ythan. Loch Muick, the largest of the few lakes in the county, 1310 feet above the sea, is only 2 miles long and J to | mile broad. The rivers have plenty of salmon and trout. There arc noted chalybeate springs at Peterhead, Fraser- burgh, and Panauich near Ballater. Climate. The climate of Aberdeenshire, except in the mountainous districts, is comparatively mild, from the sea being on two sides. The mean annual temperature at Braemar is 43 G Fahr., and at Aberdeen 45 0&amp;gt; 8. The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 30 to 37 inches. The summer climate of the Upper Dee and Don valleys is the driest and most bracing in the British Isles, and grain is cultivated up to 1600 feet above the sea, or 400 to 500 feet higher than elsewhere in North Britain. All the crops cultivated in Scotland ripen, and the people often live to a great age. Geology. The rocks are mostly granite, gneiss, with small tracts of syenite, mica slate, quartz rock, clay slate, grauwacke, primary limestone, old red sandstone, serpentine, and trap. Lias, greensand, and chalk flints occur. The rocks are much covered with boulder clay, gravel, sand, and allu vium. Brick clay occurs near the coast. The surface of the granite under the boulder clay often presents glacial smoothings, grooves, and roundings. Cairngorm stone, beryl, and amethyst are found in the granite of Braemar. Plants ami The tops of the highest mountains have an arctic flora. Animals. At Her Majesty s Lodge, Loch Muick, 1350 feet above the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses, &amp;lt;fcc. Some ash trees, 4 or 5 feet in girth, are growing at 1300 feet above the sea. The mole occurs at 1800 feet above the sea, and the squirrel at 1400. Trees, especially Scotch fir and larch, grow well in the c.ounty, and Braemar abounds in natural timber, said to surpass any in the north of Europe. Stumps of Scotch fir and oak found in peat in the county are often far larger than any now growing. Grouse, partridges, and hares abound in the county, and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in Braemar, the deer forest being there valued at 5000 a year, and estimated at 500,000 acres, or one-fourth the area of deer forests in Scotland. Agricul- Poor, gravelly, clayey, and peaty soils prevail much more ture. in Aberdeenshire than good rich loams, but tile draining, bones, and guano, and the best modes of modern tillage, have greatly increased the produce. Farm-houses and steadings have greatly improved, and the best agricultural implements and machines are in general use. About two- thirds of the population depend entirely on agriculture, and oatmeal in various forms, with milk, is the chief food of farm-servants. Farms are generally small, compared with those in the south-east counties. The fields are separated by dry-stone dykes, and also by wooden and wire fences. Leases of 19 or 21 years prevail, and the five, six, or seven shift rotation is in general use. In 1872 there were 11,642 occupiers of land, with an average of 50 acres each, and paying about 536,000 in rent. Of the 585,299 acres of the county in crop in 1872, 191,880 acres were in oats, 18,930 in barley and bere, 1633 in rye, 1357 in wheat, 95,091 in turnips (being one-fifth of the turnips grown in Scotland), 8414 in potatoes, 232,178 in grasses and clover. In 1872 the county had 23,117 horses, 157,960 cattle (being above one-seventh of all the cattle in Scotland), 128,308 sheep, and 13,579 pigs. The county is unsur passed in breeding, and unrivalled in feeding cattle, and this is more attended to than the cultivation of grain-crops. About 40,000 fat cattle are reared, and above 1,000,000 value of cattle and dead meat is sent from the county to London yearly. The capital invested in agriculture within the county is estimated at about 5,133,000. The great mineral wealth in Aberdeenshire is its long- Miner; famed durable granite, which is largely quarried for build ing, paving, causewaying, and polishing. An acre of land on being reclaimed has yielded 40 to 50 worth of cause waying stones. Gneiss is also quarried, as also primary limestone, old red sandstone, conglomerate millstone, grau wacke, clay slate, syenite, and hornblende rock. Iron ore, manganese, and plumbago occur in the county. A large fishing population in villages along the coast Fisher engage in the white and herring fishery. Haddocks are salted and rock-dried (speldings), or smoked (finnans). The rivers and coasts yield many salmon. Peterhead was long the chief British port for the north whale and seal fishery, but Dundee now vies with it in this industry. The manufactures and arts of the county are mainly Manui prosecuted in or near the town of Aberdeen, but throughout hues. the rural districts there are much milling of corn, brick and tile making, stone-quarrying, smith-work, brewing and distilling, cart and farm implement making, casting and drying of peat, timber felling, especially on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers, lath, barrel staves, &c. The chief imports into the county are, coals, lime, Trade. timber, iron, slates, raw materials of textile manufac tures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar, alcoholic liquors, fruits, &c. The chief exports are granite (rough, dressed, and polished), flax, woollen, and cotton goods, paper, combs, preserved provisions, oats, barley, live and dead cattle, &c. In the county there are about 520 fairs in the year for cattle, horses, sheep, hiring ser vants, &c. Aberdeenshire communicates with the south by the Railw; Caledonian Railway, and five macadamised roads across the east Grampians, the highest rising 2200 feet above the sea. About 188 miles of railway (the Great North of Scotland, Formartin and Buchan, and Deeside lines), and 2359 miles of public roads, ramify through the county. Tolls over the county were abolished in 1865, and the roads are kept up by assessment. The railway lines in the county have cost on the average about 13,500 a mile. Several macadamised roads and the Great North of Scot land Railway form the main exits from the county to the north-west. The chief antiquities in Aberdeenshire are Picts houses Anti- pr weems; stone foundations of circular dwellings; mono- quitie; liths, some being sculptured; the so-called Druid circles; stone cists; stone and earthen enclosures; the vitrified forts of Dunnideer and Noath ; cairns; crannoges; earthen mounds, as the Bass; flint arrow-heads; clay funeral urns; stone celts and hammers. Remains of Roman camps occur at Peterculter, Kintore, and Auchterless, respectively 107, 100, and 115 acres. Roman arms have been found. Ruins of ancient edifices occur. On the top of a conical hill called Dunnideer. in the Garioch district, are the remains of a