| Description | Farming diary, no. 26.
24 March - 30 June 1900
Has to look over and sign the session books with Mr Cowie; the doctor sees Bella's knee; attends evening prayer meeting; assists with the steam thrashing mill at Roquharold; collects for sustentation fund; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; pays David Henderson for thrashing the year's crop; commences to sow; the hornie cow claves; attends Kirk Session meeting; they finish the pulling of the turnips; collects sustentation money and attends Deacons' Court after evening service; the horses are put out to grass for the first time in the season; leaves cattle outsider overnight for the first time in the season; attends prayer meeting and meeting of Session; Bella stays in Aberdeen for a week; engages Willie for the summer half-year at £14..10..0; sells four queys to Mr Alsop for £63; pays rent at Kemnay House; the doctor sees Bella's leg; collects sustentation money; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; voting papers for elders and deacons are opened at a meeting of Session; Johnnie has a cycle tour of Strathdon and Deeside and sees Queen Victoria between Braemar and Ballater; the votes for elders and deacons are counted; sells five queys and two stots to Mr Alsop for £108..10..0.
1 July - 30 September 1900
New elders and deacons are ordained at the Church; Mary and Andrew attend William Reid's marriage and George Gordon and Miss Argo get married the same day; attends funeral of Mrs Bruce of Crossfield; hears an appeal for Dr Barnados at Church; collects sustentation money; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; engages Maggie Thompson for the harvest at £4; visits Mr Emslie at Tillyfour; attends Mr Souter's Gospel meeting at Craigendarroch; visits old friends and neighbours at Skene; they commence the harvest on 29 August; attends Johanna Smith's marriage at the Imperial Hotel, Aberdeen; attends the funeral of Old Ben Emslie of the Mill Farm; clyack on 17 September; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court.
1 October - 31 December 1900
Pays Maggie her £4 wages for the harvest; records vote for Dr Farquharson at Kemnay; Willie ploughs the first start of the season on 11 October; visits James Cameron in the Aberdeen Infirmary; attends concert of the band of Her Majesty's Royal Horse Guards in the Music Hall with Bella and Uncle Robert - 'liked it splendid'; collects sustentation money; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; attends sale of work at the Melville Free Church for the Guestrow Mission; assists at the steam thrashing mill; Mrs Cormack pays for the seed corn received in spring; sells four cattle to Mr Alsop for £68 then buys and sells more livestock with him at Oyne; engages a man, John Riddell, at Inverurie feeing market to work the horses at £14 for six months; pays rent at Kemnay House; the Lady cow calves; pays the wages on term day and Willie leaves; pays the seat rents; John Riddell leaves for an unknown reason after dinnertime on 6 December; engages a John McKendrick to work the horses at £15; collects sustentation money and attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court in the evening; attends funeral of Mrs Emslie of North Aquithie; 'blowing a hurricane' on 21 December; cannot read on a Sabbath afternoon 'for darkness'.
1 January - 31 March 1901
Sells three cattle to Mr Alsop at £18 per head; attends funeral of William Smith (Hope Cottage); enjoys the children's Christmas tree event at Church; the Bell cow calves; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; goes to concert in Kemnay; very fine weather in January - 'like summer'; visits the dying Mr Winchester at Nether Affloch; snow in late January; attends meeting of Session; attends a joint memorial service at the Established Church for the Queen's funeral - 'a very impressive service it was'; collects sustentation money and attends Deacons' Court in the evening; attends meeting at Mr McDonald's concerning a tablet in memory of Mr Dymock; Peter Christie very ill; attends Skene funeral of Mr Winchester the colporteur; buys two stirks; examines wall tablets at St Peter's Cemetery, Aberdeen, further to the plan to commemorate Mr Dymock; sells two stots to Mr Alsop for £36; the new cow calves; 'a real tempest of a day with wind & rain' on 1 March; the Maggie and Flora cows calve, the latter with twins; now reads the United Free Church Record on the Sabbath; finishes thrashing the year's crop; attends meeting of Session; Andrew's ewe dies; heavy snow and drifting at the end of May; fills in the census schedule.
1 April - 17 May 1901
Attends James Mathieson's funeral with Andrew; collects sustentation money and, later, attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; Andrew's sheep go away, but he finds them at West Mains, Castle Fraser; visits Mr Emslie, who has badly injured a foot with an axe; they sow for the first time in the year; the Daisy cow calves; Andrew rents a six acre park at £18.10.0; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; goes to social meeting at the Church - 'liked it very well'; pays £20 for five tons on manure account in Aberdeen; receives a new hat from Johnny; George and James Argo visit - James having newly arrived from South Africa; buys a drag-harrow and some other items at a Tillyfour displenish sale; gets two stirks from Mr Alsop. |