BANFFSHIRE, Scotland, a county in the north, bounded on the north by the Moray Firth, on the west by the county of Elgin and part of Inverness, on the south and east by the county of Aberdeen. The soil is for the most part a rich loam or deep clay. The principal rivers are the Spey and Deveron, with the Isla, a tributary of the former, and the Avon and Fiddich of the latter; besides which there are many other main and tributary streams. The mountains rise in altitude as they recede from the sea, the most celebrated being Cairngorm, which is 4,095 feet high. The principal crops are barley, oats, turnips and potatoes, little wheat being raised. Special attention is paid to the cultivation of turnips, the chief object of the farmer being the rearing and feeding of cattle. The total area of Banffshire is 410,000 acres. Nearly two-fifths of the total surface is under cultivation, and about one-fifth is oc cupied by woods and plantations. Since about the middle of the 19th century large tracts of formerly waste land have been reclaimed.
Fishing is a staple industry. The salmon caught in the Spey and Deveron constitute an im portant article of traffic, the valued rental. of the Duke of Richmond's salmon fishings in the former being over $60,000 a year. Banffshire possesses several woolen factories, tanneries, rope and sail works, ship-building yards, brew eries, lime works and many distilleries, the whiskey being generally known under the name of Glenlivet, after a glen in the county. Among the natural productions limestone is the most prevalent. Serpentine also abounds in several places, especially at Portsoy, where it is known as cPortsoy marble"; it is wrought into vases and other ornaments. Ironstone and manga nese also occur, and Scotch topazes or cairn gorm stones are found on the mountains in the south of the county. The chief towns and villages are Banff, Macduff, Keith and Buckie. Pop. (1911) 61,402.