362 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



rotation. To fix how long this intermediate period should be, 

 it is necessary to go carefully over the burned ground of the 

 last decade in order to see how long the general average of 

 burned heather takes to come to maturity. This will vary, 

 not only with the age of the heather, but with the elevation of 

 the moor, the climate and exposure, the depth of peat, the 

 amount of flow and hard ground, and the stock of sheep. By 

 carefully noting the results and comparing them with similar 

 results on well-burned moors, it will be possible to arrive at 

 sufficient data to give the number of years for the first rotation. 

 It is probably generally true to say that on a moor on which 

 heather grows readily, and on which all the heather is burned 

 before it has passed its best, heather springs from the root the 

 year it is burned, and comes into flower sometimes in the first 

 and generally in the second or third year. That on a badly 

 burned moor situated 600 to 1,200 feet above sea-level the 

 ground covered by partly withered heather of an average height 

 of 2 feet will remain black for two years after burning, that for 

 the next three to five years it will be covered by grass and cross- 

 leaved heather, and that six further years will be necessary 

 before there is a full yield of edible Calluna heather. This 

 will mean a handicap of nine years, and on a moor of this sort 

 a rotation of twenty to twenty-five years should, in the first 

 case, be attempted. It must not be thought that for the whole 

 of these nine years the ground is useless. During that period 

 it is useful for old birds as a basking-ground, and for young 

 chicks as a feeding-ground; and the early grasses and seeds 

 and even ferns that grow there are not without value. It will 

 afford, however, little or no spring food. 



Having fixed the rotation and the acreage to be burned, 

 the next thing is to decide on the allocation and size of the 

 individual patches or strips. We will suppose that the badly 

 burned moor is one of 4,000 acres, that there is a sufficient 

 labour supply, and that the rotation attempted is to be one 

 of twenty years (i.e., one-twentieth of the heather ground 

 burned per annum). The amount to be burned every year 



