REPORT OF GENERAL MEETING. 21 



sooner it could be opened to deer, and the sooner the planting 

 of the next block could be taken in hand. 



" There is no great practical objection to even-aged blocks of 

 considerable size, provided that these are not so large as to 

 make it difficult to bring the area eventually into a regular 

 rotation of fellings. Say that twenty years' fellings have to be 

 made in an even aged block, then the whole can be brought 

 gradually to the provisions of the plan by anticipating or retard- 

 ing the due date of each felling. 



" Under this system the plantable ground of each deer forest 

 could be brought under a timber crop in three operations at 

 intervals of from twenty-five to thirty years. Once safe from 

 damage the whole would be open to deer, except those parts 

 which had to be fenced off for regeneration ; taking seventy-five 

 years as the rotation, the compartment aged nothing to twenty- 

 five years, or one-third of the whole, would be the maximum 

 fenced off at one time. 



"With regard to sheep farms, the question is more difficult. 

 At the present moment over a large part of the West Highlands 

 the value of wintering is very greatly reduced by a strong 

 growth of bracken, which makes it almost impossible for grass 

 to exist on a great deal of the land which ought to afford the 

 best of winter grazing. The improvement of this land by 

 the regular cutting of bracken is a recognised fact. It is 

 necessary to cut the bracken at least twice, or better still, 

 three times the first year, during the growing season ; in 

 subsequent years the growth will be much weaker, and one 

 cutting only in the season may suffice, with an extra cutting 

 of all the stronger patches. This is already done in some cases 

 by owners and tenant farmers in the interests of their stock. 

 It is obvious that where the ground has been improved a larger 

 stock can be kept, and in these cases it does not seem to be 

 fair at the present time to suggest any reduction of the wintering 

 ground by planting. But in the great majority of cases little 

 or nothing is done, and it is probable that a fair bargain could 

 be made by which assistance for bracken cutting would be 

 given on condition that ground were given up for planting. 



" After allowing say three years for the improvement of winter- 

 ing, it is believed that as much as lo or 12 per cent, of the 

 total area of some sheep farms could be planted without any 

 reduction of sheep stock — this percentage will of course vary 



