Grampian Club > Leaves from my autography

24 LEAVES FROM MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Act for the j^rotection and encouragement of Scottish
fisheries. He advanced the interests of northern
manufactures, and sought the development of hus-
bandry. In its agricultural concerns, the county of
Forfar, more especially in its upland districts, consid-
erably lagged, and it was Mr Dempster's ambition to
imbue the tenantry of his district Avith a spirit of
enterprise and emulation, which he hoped would ulti-
mately subdue the marshes and reclaim the waste
lands. In this laudable object he found a willing
coadjutor in my father, who had become familiar
with the agricultural condition of every parish in the
county, and had, by extensive reading, made himself
acquainted with agiicultm^e as a science. Mr Demp-
ster established the "Lunan and Yinney Farming
Society," of which, on his nomination, my father was
elected honorary secretary. The society held yearly
an exhibition and a festive meeting at Dunnichen, and
some eighty persons — landlords and tenants — were
enrolled as members. On Mr Dempster's death in
1818, meetings of the society were suspended. The
minute-book, a curious record of agricultural pro-
ceedings, is now in my possession. By the High-
land and Agricultural Society of Scotland, my father
was, in 1797, awarded their gold medal for an essay
on the best method of improving the Highlands.
My father's connection with Dunnichen House, as
a frequent and welcome guest, having constituted
an important feature in his career, I feel called