HEATHER BURNING. 



made to spring annually from the burned Heather 

 ought to be used not only for pasture but also for hay. 

 In Sweden this practice is commonly followed and 

 found to answer. 



The advantage to other vegetation of burning the 

 Heather is thus explained by Sir Humphry Davy: 

 "The alkalies produced from the combustion of plants 

 tend very powerfully to promote the growth of new 

 herbage and that the burning of such plants as heath, 

 furze, tough grasses, rushes and moss is the cheapest 

 and best means of reducing such substances to a state 

 of minute carbonaceous particles at once capable of 

 supplying food to the roots of the new plants." 



The stumps of the Heather are usually left in 

 the ground, for the fire consumes only the foliage 

 and the smaller twigs ; and these skeletons, closely 

 matted together, bleached and sharpened by the ele- 

 ments, frequently crossing one's path, are very dis- 

 agreeable to walk on, unless the feet are protected 

 by very thick boots (fraochan). "The contrasts of 

 shape and color," says Rev. Hugh Macmillan, "formed 

 by these clearings in the aboriginal Heather, are very 

 curious, and strikingly diversify the monotony of the 

 landscape here a uniform brown sea of Heather; 

 there long stripes of gray coloring running in and 

 out and crossing in all directions, like promontories 

 and capes ; and yonder bright green isles of verdure 

 smiling amid the surrounding desolation." 



The season of "Muirburn," as it is technically 

 named, is regulated by Act of Parliament ; the Scottish 

 Acts of 1424, C. 20, and 1535, C. IT, being superseded 



