CHAPTER XVI 11 



HEATHER - BURNING 



By Lord Lovat 



The student of the heather-burning question will be struck, from the very 

 outset of his inquiry, by the curious fact that while all parties are agreed 

 Variety of ^^^^ there is the closest possible relation between the state of the 

 to'heaTher^ heather on any given moor and the health of the birds on that moor, 

 burning, there is the greatest divergence of opinion, not only as to what are 

 the best methods of burning, but even as to what are the special characteristics 

 of a really well-burned moor. 



The vexed question of the relative values of autumn- and spring-burning, 

 the percentage of a moor that it is advisable to burn in any given year, the 

 effect on the heather of the presence or absence of sheep, the limit of sheep stock 

 desirable, the proportion of long heather to be left for spring feeding or cover, 

 the management of the steep slopes for winter feeding, the methods of burning 

 — patches, blocks or strips — and the treatment of the various descriptions 

 of moorland, all give scope for a much greater variety of opinion than the 

 difference of local conditions appears to justify. 



In the previous chapter, the findings of the Grouse Committee have been 

 discussed in relation to the various ideas which have been put forward as to 

 the causes of disease ; in the present chapter it is proposed to discuss the practical 

 steps that must be taken : — 



(a) To raise the power of resistance of the Grouse ; 

 [h] To lessen the risk of nematode and coccidian infection ; and 

 (c) To compare these with the methods which have in the past been evolved 

 from a priori reasoning. 



With these objects in view it is intended, in the first place, to trace briefiy 



the history of moor management in the last century, to show how blind but 



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