The rainfall over the whole county is also moderate, ranging from less than 25 inches at Peterhead—the driest part of the area—to 40 inches at Braemar, and 32 at Aberdeen. This is a small rainfall compared with 60 or 70 inches on parts of the west coast. The driest months in Aberdeenshire are April and May, and generally speaking less rain falls in the early half of the year when the temperature is rising than in the later half when the temperature is on the decline. Two inches is about the average for each month from February to June, but October, November and December are each over three inches. The most of the rainfall of Scotland comes from the west and south. This explains why the west coast is so much wetter than the east. The westerly winds from the Atlantic, laden with moisture, strike upon the high lands of the west, but exhaust themselves before they reach the watershed and, having precipitated their moisture between that and the coast, they reach the east coast comparatively dry. Braemar just under the watershed is relatively dry. Its situation as an elevated valley, 1114 feet above sea-level and surrounded on three sides by hills of from three to four thousand feet, and the fact that it is 60 miles from the sea combine to make it one of the most bracing places and give it one of the finest summer climates in the British Isles. This sufficiently accounts for its popularity as a health resort. May is its driest month, October its wettest. Easterly winds bring rain to the coast, but as a rule the rain extends no further inland than 20 miles. Easterly winds prevail during March, April and May, which make this season the most trying part of the year for weakly people. In summer the winds are often northerly, but the prevailing winds of the year, active for 37 per cent. of the 365 days or little less than half, are west and south-west. East winds bring fog, and this is most prevalent in the early summer, June being perhaps the worst month. The greatest drawback to the climate from an agriculturist’s point of view is the lateness of the spring. The summer being short, a late spring means a late harvest, which is invariably unsatisfactory. The low rainfall of the county is favourable to sunshine. Aberdeen has 1400 hours of sunshine during the year in spite of fogs and east winds; the more inland parts being beyond the reach of sea-fog have an even better record. The great objection—an objection taken by folks who have spent part of their life in South Africa or Canada—is the variableness of the climate from day to day. There is not here any fixity for continued periods of weather such as obtains in these countries. The chief factor in this variability is our insular position on the eastern side of the Atlantic. When, on rare occasions, as sometimes happens in June or in September, the atmosphere is settled, Aberdeenshire enjoys for a few weeks weather of the most salubrious and delightful kind.