HEATHER-BURNING 355 



Sheep always rush to the newly burned ground for the Sheep, 

 sweeter grasses that grow there, and unless there are good 

 stretches of burned ground for them to feed on, they will con- 

 centrate on the small isolated patches and pull up all the young 

 heather plants as they spring from seed. Every one who is 

 acquainted with a moor in autumn must have observed the 

 hundreds of little brown shrivelled-up heather seedlings pulled 

 up by the sheep's teeth on every patch of newly burned ground. 1 

 To obviate this wholesale destruction it is sometimes considered 

 advisable, where the sheep stock is heavy and the moor has a 

 tendency to go back to grass, to fence off areas of old stick heather 

 for two or three years after burning. This gives the young 

 heather a chance of coming away, and once rooted it can defy 

 the efforts of the stoutest-toothed " black-face." 



Old heather should, whenever it is possible, be burned 

 " against the grain," that is to say, against the lie of the heather 

 sticks. " Back-firing " or burning against the wind gives a 

 very clean burn, the fire travels slowly, and destroys not only 

 a larger percentage of the stalks of the heather, but also burns 

 into the " fog " or moss which surrounds the roots of old stick 

 heather. Owing to the shortness of the time available for 

 burning in an average year, dampness of the soil, etc., " back- 

 firing " is not always possible. In the case where an overcrop 

 of partly charred sticks have been left it is advisable to run a 

 fire through the burned ground a second time if possible in the 

 second or third year following the first burn. This second Second 

 firing has the effect of clearing the ground of the charred heather 

 sticks and burning off the moss which, having been exposed 

 to the air, is drier than at the first time of kindling. This 

 affords a good clear seed-bed on which the wind-borne heather- 

 seeds rapidly establish themselves. 



The very greatest care must be taken of steep banks, Steep faces. 

 especially those facing south, as these are the places that in 

 time of snow give shelter and food to the Grouse. It must 

 be understood that careful treatment does not mean allowing 



1 FwfePl. xx., Fig. 2. 



