AS A FORAGE PLANT. 



Lightfoot tells us that Bilberries or a decoction 

 of Heather roots in milk were given for diarrhoea and 

 dysentery. A spirituous extract of Heather roots was 

 given for sea scurvy. 



As a Forage Plant 



The tops of the Heather afford a considerable 

 part of the winter foods of the hill flocks, and are 

 popularly supposed to communicate the fine flavor to 

 the Highland mutton; but sheep seldom crop Heather 

 while the mountain grasses and rushes are sweet and 

 accessible. It has been said that cows not accustomed 

 to browse on the Heath give bloody milk, but are soon 

 cured by drinking plentifully of water. Pennant, writ- 

 ing of lona, tells us : "There is no heath in the island ; 

 cattle unused to that plant give bloody milk, which is 

 the case with the cattle of lona transported to Mull 

 where that vegetable abounds, but the cure is soon ef- 

 fected by giving them plenty of water." A writer in 

 the "London Magazine" in 1826, speaking of a tour of 

 the Western Highlands, remarks as follows : "In the 

 articles of milk, cream and butter, they (the High- 

 landers) surpass the choicest productions of English 

 dairies ; the reason of which was once given me by 

 a Highlander: 'O, it's a' the Heather flowers and the 

 natural grass.' " 



How the plants save themselves, so to speak, from 



total destruction at the hands or rather the appetites 



of grazing animals, is thus interestingly described in 



the Natural History of Plants (Kcerner and Oliver) : 



82 



