The linen trade began in 1737 at Huntly, where an Irishman under the patronage and encouragement of the Duke of Gordon manufactured yarn and exported it to England and the southern Scottish towns. Silk stockings were also made there. By and by linen works sprang up on the Don at Gordon’s Mills and Grandholm as well as within Aberdeen itself. The linen trade in the form of spinning and hand-loom weaving was carried on in most of the towns and villages of the county and several new villages grew up in consequence, such as Cuminestown, New Byth, Strichen, New Pitsligo, Stuartfield and Fetterangus, in some of which the manufacture is continued on a small scale to this day. Much flax was grown in the county for a time to minister to this industry, but gradually the crop disappeared as fibre of better quality was imported from Holland. Yet the spinning of linen yarn was widely practised as a domestic industry when the woollen trade declined, and every farmer’s daughter made a point of spinning her own linen as the nucleus of her future house-furnishings. The linen trade, except as regards coarser materials such as sacking, has decayed. There is still a jute factory in Aberdeen. Another industry which employs a large number of hands is the preserving of meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables. There are several of these preserving works in Aberdeen. Dried and smoked haddocks, usually called “Finnan Haddies,” from the village of Findon on the Kincardineshire coast, are one of the specialities of Aberdeen. They had at one time a great vogue, and are still largely in demand though the quality has fallen off by the adoption of a simpler and less expensive method of treatment. Ship-building is another industry long established at Aberdeen. In the days before iron steamships, fleets of swift-sailing vessels known as “Aberdeen Clippers” were built on the Dee and made record voyages to China in the tea trade and to Australia. The industry of to-day is concerned, for the greater part, with the building of trawlers and other fishing craft, but occasionally an ocean going steamer is launched. The trade is meantime suffering from depression. [Illustration: Making smoked haddocks, Aberdeen] Other industries well represented are soap and candle making, coach and motor-car building, iron-founding and engineering, rope and twine making, the manufacture of chemicals, colours and aerated waters. Besides, Aberdeen is a great printing centre and many of the books issued by London publishers are printed by local presses. 14. Fisheries.