Chapter II. 

 LOCAL ECONOMICS. 



WINTERING. 



The wintering question — that is to say, how stock can 

 be maintained on high-lying ground from early October to 

 the middle of May — is the all-important question on which 

 hill farming and, as will be shown later, silviculture in the 

 Highlands depends. The narrowness of the glens, the steep- 

 ness of the hillsides, the relatively small area capable of being 

 planted, and the large extent of hinterland thrown out of gear 

 by any interference with the small extent of wintering ground 

 available, combine to make the problem a difficult one. 



It is not easy to lay down any laws which are true of the 

 wintering in all Highland districts. Broadly speaking, however, 

 it is accurate to say that, with regard to sheep stock, the old ewes 

 and wethers only can find a precarious existence on the lower 

 slopes in winter; that hoggs, and younger sheep generally, have 

 to be moved sometimes for a distance of 200 miles to low-land 

 feeding from October to April ; that for cattle the higher grazings 

 do not provide outside keep until the end of May ; and that, in 

 an average year, for weeks and frequently for months at a time, 

 nothing except the fox and the ptarmigan can exist unhoused 

 above the 1000-1200 feet level; while at these times even the 

 grouse and the wild red deer leave the high ground for places 

 where they can find food and shelter. 



In bad years, and in certain districts in average seasons, deer 

 have to be artificially fed in winter, the ewe stock has to be 

 hayed at intervals, and Highland stirks have to be provided with 

 shelter and food. It is not difficult to see that ground under 

 1200 feet — the only ground which can be planted, and the only 

 ground which can maintain stock in winter — has not only a 

 value of its own for feeding, but has an even greater value as the 

 sole means by which the great expanse of high ground can be 

 placed in a position to feed a summer stock. 



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