have
as yet been obtained from these beds. There is a widespread covering of
boulder clay especially in the northern part bordering the shore, where it
contains fragments of shells and includes numerous boulders which have been
carried eastwards from the high grounds west of the Moray Firth. In the
brickclays at Blackpots to the north-west of Banff, fragments of shells
also occur together with Jurassic fossils. Shelly sands have been recorded
near the Ord south of Tillynaught near Portsoy, and shells have been found
in stratified deposits on the shore near Gamrie.

_Agriculture_.--The soil is in general rich and productive, yielding fair
crops of wheat, and excellent crops of barley, oats, &c.; and the grass and
green crops are equally abundant. Oats is the predominant crop, but the
demands of distillers keep up the acreage of barley. The cattle and stock
hold a high character and form the staple agricultural industry. There is
also a considerable amount of dairy farming. Among landlords who did much
to encourage agricultural enterprise and to plant and reclaim lands, were
the earls of Fife and the earls of Findlater, afterwards earls of Seafield.
It was a Seafield who, in 1846, received the honorary gold medal of the
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, for his immense and thriving
plantations of useful timber-trees, in the counties of Banff, Moray and
Nairn. From the year 1811 to 1845, he had planted 18,938,224 Scots firs,
11,904,798 larches, 843,450 hardwoods; making the enormous aggregate of
31,686,472 forest trees, planted in 8223 acres of enclosed ground. The
Banffshire Agricultural Association holds shows periodically for all sorts
of stock and produce and agricultural implements.

_Manufactures and Trade_.--Woollen factories are found in Dufftown,
Rothiemay and Gollachy, and engineering works in Banff, Portsoy and Keith.
Distilleries are numerous and their product has a high repute. A fishing
and miscellaneous trade is done at the harbours of Banff, Macduff, Buckie,
Gardenstown, Portsoy, Cullen and Port Gordon; but fishing is also carried
on at numerous creeks or harbours along the coast. The herring season lasts
from June to September, white fishing all the year round. The fishery
districts centre in Banff and Buckie. Banffshire contains large limestone
deposits, and granite is also quarried.

The systems of the Great North of Scotland and the Highland railways serve
the chief towns of the county and