| Description | Farming diary, no. 18.
This thick volume has a worn and fading black cover. The diary's dates are written on a sticker on the front. The volume is faintly lined and the writing is generally neat and legible. Scots words, particularly farming-related terms, and idioms appear in the text. The action of the diary is mostly limited to areas in and around Mosshead, Mr Mathieson's farm.
Most diary entries record Mr Mathieson's agricultural tasks, which vary according to the season; they finish with a brief summary of the day's weather. On Sundays Mr Mathieson usually worships at Church along with his wife Bella, and other family members. Friends and relatives often come to Mosshead to visit.
Notable events from this diary: the bairns cannot attend school due to the adverse weather; reads the preface to the Revised Version of the New Testament; snow and sleet in April; the Maggie cow calves; fills in census schedule; sows for the first time in the season; pays William Leslie 15/ for a week's work; Mrs Emslie of the Mill Farm dies - '[the folks] were feeling their mother's death very much'; attends Mrs Emslie's funeral; '[on the Sabbath] I went to Church when a young man made an attempt to preach a sermon...'; the Canadian quey takes calving - 'a pretty stiff job we had'; the Mary cow calves; gets best ever price for oats at Inverurie; visits Pittarrow and attends Laurencekirk sale; snow in mid-May; engages George Reid, son of James, for the summer half year and also James Mackie, a horseman; visits Uncle Robert and does banking in Aberdeen; pays rent at Kemnay House; attends sale of Canadian cattle at Pocra Pier; the ferrier orders a cow suffering from milk fever to be killed; attends Jane Marr's wedding along with Bella - 'we enjoyed ourselves fine'; James Smith and Andrew climb Bennachie; attends sales in Aberdeen; sells three queys to John Lyon; buys quey for £12; Bella sells her pig for £2; buys two stots for £25; attends St Sair's Fair and visits his birthplace at Glens of Touland; goes to see the 'wild beasts' when Bostock & Wombell's Menagerie comes to Kemnay; the red quey calves; Bella fetches doctor for Miss Rattie; engages James Simpson for the harvest at £4; buys reaper from Tillycairn blacksmith; the boys go to Aberdeen; buys quey for £12..15 at Inverurie market; Andrew then, a few days later, Johnny return from Aberdeen; James Duthie of Gight pays £4 for eight days of sheep pasture; enjoys evening with the Reids at Roquharold; attends with Bella the funeral of Mr Lawson of Craigiedarg; buys two stots for £28; enjoys sham fight at Monymusk flower show; works on new house buildings and the joists are laid; wind and heavy rain in Septemenber; pays mason £2..10 for work on new building; a joiner cuts his leg and has to be taken home; the slater starts work on the new builiding's roof; receives £33..13..6 for two queys sold to John Lyon; Mrs Milne pays £2 for acre of grass; ploughing begins; has business in Aberdeen; pays £14 for reaper; pays Mr Emslie of Pittarrow £5 the early grassum (re. renewal of lease) for Mosshead; attends old Mrs Aitken's funeral; Mr and Mrs Philip and family from Glasgow visit; the bairns hold Halloween on 19 November 1891; keeps town on the Sabbath; engages John Smith and the son of the Skene House grieve to work the horses at £11..11 and engages a boy, Roy, to help with the cattle at £6..10; pays rent, the smith, the joiner and the saddler; pays the poor's rates and road money to the poor inspector; pays the men their wages on term day; has bad cold; the factor sees the new building; attends 'magic lantern' lecture from Mr Dymock on the events of 1891; goes to social meeting at Church; pays seat rents at Church; helps to sand icy road; offers men holiday on New Year's Day 1892; Uncle Robert visits his birthplace at Upper Coullie; sells four cattle to John Lyon for £73; heavy snow in January; attends Mrs Aiken's funeral; buys stirk for £9..10; enjoys with the bairns 'lime light' entertainment by Mr Gillies; buys rick cover from Mackay & Sons, York Place, Aberdeen; the Flora cow calves; gets sixpence back from buying a young pig 'for a luck penny'; buys new clothes from James Diack for £2..12..6; travels in Mr Reid's 'machine' to Nether Inver of Monymusk; the Betty cow calves; attends Robert Nicolson's funeral; pays William Stewart for the joiner work on new building; buys a quey for £10..5; attends the Fastern's Even Fair at Fyvie with Mr Reid; goes to Pittarrow and stays overnight; the Bell cow calved; attends Mr Dymock's magic lantern lecture on the opium traffic; renews fire policy for £1..2..6; the bairns attend the Sabbath School; attends the Spring Show of stallions, seeds and roots in Aberdeen; heavy snow in March; signs the paper against the opium traffic along with Bella and John; sees a mare in Laurencekirk - 'I did not buy the mare, I thought her too good for me'; gets new grey mare from Mr Reid in exchange for £30 and his old old one; sells two stots to John Lyon for £38; the Maggie cow calves; puts the Mary cow through the ring at Middleton's sale; the Jamie cow calves; commences the sowing in early April; heavy snow mid-April; Professor Hector lectures on mission work in India; Andrew, Johnny and Mary get their photographs taken at Inverurie; helps Mrs Cormack with her calving cow; orders manure, bone dust, kainite and slag at corn market; attends Alexander's roup at Hillfold; attends G. Wight's 'displinsh' (displenish) sale; sells John Lyon two stots for £38; attends 'displinish' sale at Drimmies; reads from the life of Mackay of Uganda; engages James Reid's son William for the summer half-year at £6 and engages a young lad Lawson to work the horses at £13 for the half-year; 'a great differenc[e] on the face of the earth since the rain came'; pays rent at Kemnay House and also pays seat rents to Mr Macdonald 3/; visits Mrs Lovie in Banff with Bella and Mary; James Wilson of Broomhill of Echt is very ill; enjoys 'very edifying conversation' with George Wight; James Wilson dies; attends James Wison's funeral; the young cow calves; sells two queys to John Lyon; votes for Dr Farquharson in West Aberdeenshire poll; entertains Mr Jolly from Inverurie for a short time; attends Mrs Findlater's funeral; travels to Inverness with a group, visits sights and stays overnight, then attends the Highland Society's Show; buys two stots from John Lyon for £34..10; the ferrier attends to the Bell cow's sore foot; Charles Thomson, formerly of Hillside of Echt, visits from England; applies to have young Andrew taught at Gordon's College, Aberdeen; advises Mrs Wilson at Broomhill; takes train to Aberdeen and attends the Floral Gala and Military Tournanment in Central Park, Kittybrewster; engages William Adam Jr of Loanends for the harvest at £4..10; attends Mrs Strachan's funeral; the ferrier sees nothing in the Bell cow's foot to make her lame; visits Mrs Wilson who has had a son; Lawson's sister dies; attends sale of Aberdeen Angus cattle at Alford; they commence the harvest in mid-September; likes the preaching of Mr Burnett from Pitcaple; is very unwell with the cold; buys a weighing machine and weights at Watson's at Inverurie market; the Betty cow breaks the forestall; Uncle John Lovie from Banff visits; insures cornyard with Mr McGillivray for £200; sells two stots to Mr Lyon for £36..10; receivs cheque of £4 from Duthie of Shagart for sheep pasture; drives up to Monymusk to meet Uncle Robert's Mother's funeral; attends a lantern lecture at the Church with his sons. |