| Description | Farming diary, no. 23.
13 April - 30 June 1897
All the turnips are home for the season; a quey chokes on a turnip; Mr Winchester from Skene visits; buys two stots from Mr Alsop's farm at Oyne for £27; Mr Mathieson suffers a very bad cold; collects the sustentation money and takes it to Peter Dunbar; the black quey calves; two Backhill cattle are lost to anthrax and two others are ill; attends displenish sale at the home farm, Kemnay House; very cold for the season in early May; one of the Backhill cattle is killed; Andrew collects a half ton of superphosphate; lays the first turnips of the year on 17 May; attends Mr Emslie's sale of cattle at Pittarrow; hears Sternberg's account of missionary work among the Jews; attends displenish sale at Tillyfour; attends Inverurie feeing market and engages a John Smith to work the horses at £13; pays rent at Kemnay House and other expenses; pays Charlie his wages; the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is celebrated on 22 June - they go to the Jubilee picnic and later enjoy the fireworks; attends Old Mitchell's funeral; hoes the first turnips of the season in late June; attends Mr Smith's evangelistic meeting; sells six queys to Mr Alsop for £84.
1 July - 30 September 1897
(Half of the diary page for Wednesday 4 August has been cut out.)
Attends tent meeting addressed by Mr McIntosh and Mr Smith; Mr Bremner pays for the sheep pasture on 7 July, St Sair's fair; reads Principal Miller's Address to the General Assembly; attends Mrs Seivewright's funeral; buys two stots from Mr Alsop for £32..10; enjoys a weekend break in Banff and Whitehills with Bella - Henry Lovie plays the host; buys two steers from Mr Alsop; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; a thunderstorm in early August damages crops, trees, bushes and glass windows; the cattle break through a paling, which Mr Mathieson mends; enjoys a very pleasant outing with Bella and others to the Glens of Foudland and climbs the Hill; visits friends in Skene; attends William Rothnie's funeral; they commence the harvest on 25 August; receives £2 for hiring out the Davie horse for four weeks; they take clyack on 16 September; grants the Manor shooting party the use of a room to take their lunch; they take clyack at John Cameron's on 17 September; enjoys Rev. Leggatt's account of his work in Malekula; they use the steam thrashing mill.
1 October - 31 December 1897
Mr and Mrs Alexander of Keithney engage Maggie for the winter half-year; attends Mr Downie's funeral in Aberdeen; travels to Pittarrow with Mr Emslie, driving over Cairn o' Mount; Jack commences ploughing on 9 October for the season; spends Sabbath in Aberdeen and Bella has a week in the city; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; attends meeting of Session; the youngest calf chokes on a turnip - 'it was very bad at times'; Bella sells her pigs for £5..2..6; Jack ploughs lea for the first time in the season; helps the Emslies move from Pittarrow to Tillyfour; snow in mid-November; attends John Braik's displenish sale; buys two young pigs for 18/; engages man to work the horses at £13; pays rent at Kemnay House and other expenses; Jack and Andrew go to Muckle Friday; the wind damages the thatched byre's roof; the new man, Willie Gillespie, arrives; sells Mr Alsop six cattle for £120 - 'I think it is a good price according to the times'; attends lantern lecture on the Victorian age; a deputation from the Presbytery attends the Church; pays rates at Kemnay; goes to the funeral of the Rev. Mr Peter, Parish Minister of Kemnay; buys three calves from Mr Alsop for £17; deposits £60 in bank; Willie suffers a very sore throat; pays for Johnnie's new suit of clothes - £2..5..0 to James Diack.
1 January - 22 April 1898
Gives Willie a holiday on the first day of the year; Mrs Mathieson brings up two beautiful panels which Mrs Fraser had painted for Bella; buys cow and calf for £16..15..0 at Carnaveron; pays £1..15..0 for a new top coat; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; receives £34..10..0 from John Lyon for two stots; attends Mr Allan Reid's funeral; heavy snow in February; attends Mrs Panton's funeral; uses the steam thrashing mill to thrash the crop; swaps foals; the Janet cow calves; heavy snow in March; attends the Royal Northern Agricultural Society's Spring Show in Aberdeen; the Jenny cow calves; attends the funeral of Charles Leys' sister; take the sustentation fund money to Peter Dunbar's; the Flora cow calves; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; the Mary cow calves; the Bell cow is bad with foul in its hind-foot; attends Charles Leys' funeral; Topsy calves; Johnnie visits with Mr Bremner, his head clerk; the Bell cow calves; Helen Gordon of the Haddoch dies; takes the chair at a prayer meeting, but few attend it due to very heavy rain; attends Helen Gordon's funeral; finishes the turnips for the season; attends meeting discussing how to celebrate Mr Burnett of Kemnay's Jubilee; Peter Dunbar buys the old Bell cow for £6. |