THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



have its tufts to nest in at the edges of the burned ground, 

 its bare ground to sun itself in and on to which to take out its 

 chicks ; its older heather for concealment, its breast-high 6-inch 

 heather for feed, its well-matured heather for seed and shelter 

 in winter, and, finally and of most importance, its six- to fifteen- 

 y ear-old heather to keep it in health and vigour in early spring. 

 In cases where it is impossible through the wetness of the 

 season, shortness of labour supply, etc., to get the moor 

 thoroughly burned in strips or patches, it may be asked whether 

 it is not better to abandon the small patch system and burn 

 a large acreage of moor ? The answer can be given with no 

 uncertain voice patches are only a secondary consideration, 

 the first essential is to get the proper proportion of the total 

 acreage of the moor burned each year. Apart from the destruc- 

 tion of Strongyle larvae by fire it must never be forgotten that 

 it is the sufficiency of the food supply that enables birds to stand 

 a heavier infection of this parasite. On Broomhead and Moy 

 moors, which carry regularly the highest stock per acre, and 

 are among the best burned moors in England and Scotland 

 respectively, the patches burned are large and disease is 

 practically unknown ; but so also is old stick heather ! 

 Methods of Having laid down the reasons which make heather-burning 



burning. necessary, the next thing to consider is the various qualities of 

 soil and heather into which a moor is divided, the treatment of 

 each, and the limitations, some natural and some artificial, 

 which stand in the way of a complete realisation of the object 

 in view. 



Old heather should be burned in strips, for when old stick 

 heather is burned the fire is so hot that the roots are charred 

 and killed ; in this case regeneration can only proceed from 

 seed, and if the burned areas are narrow, self-seeding is materi- 

 ally helped by wind-blown seed while only a small proportion 

 of the total area is rendered destitute of cover. 



While it is necessary to burn off blocks of old heather in 

 strips, it is advisable at the same time to get a considerable 

 total area burned on each beat of the moor. 



