|
BANFFSHIRE is bounded on the north by the Moray Frith, on the east and south-east by Aberdeenshire, and on the west by the counties of Moray and Inverness. It comprehends the districts of Strath-Doveran,Boyne, Enzie, Strathaven, Strathisia, Balvenie, and part of Buchan, and was a sheriffdom as early as the time of David I. The boundaries are very irregular, but it is estimated that the county has an area of 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres, of which about 120,000 are cultivated, 130,000 uncultivated, and 70,000 unprofitable. It contains 24 parishes. According to other calculations, Banffshire contains 647 square miles, or, exclusive of a space covered with water, 412,800 English acres. The face of the county is agreeably diversified with mountains and valleys, hills and plains, woods, rivers, and lakes. Along the coast, for about thirty miles, the soil is excellent, and produces heavy crops. In many inland parts also the land is in a state of high cultivation, and in the southern portions of the county, which are mostly mountainous, and only adapted for pasturage, there are many beautiful and fertile valleys. Agriculture is admirably conducted, and the Banffshire Fanners' Society, which has been in existence many years, has contributed much to these improvements. In the lower districts the farm-steadings are substantial and commodious; the fields are well inclosed either with hedges or stone dykes; large tracts of waste lands are annually added to that under cultivation; and the spirit of agricultural enterprise has so greatly extended itself, that the quantity of arable land is more than threefold what it was at the end of the eighteenth century. The sea-coast is rocky, much indented, and often bold and precipitous.
|
