HEATHER-BURNING 363 



would be 200 acres ; but to make up for bad burning seasons 

 300 acres should be attempted whenever seasonal conditions 

 permit. 



To burn this area in patches of one-eighth or one-fourth of 

 an acre is obviously impracticable ; even allowing for an area 

 of 50 to 100 acres being burned in big blocks (flow ground or 

 high ground with a northern exposure), it would be impossible 

 to burn the remaining twelve hundred odd strips necessary to 

 make up the total acreage prescribed. It is therefore necessary 

 to decide on certain general lines of moor-burning which will 

 give the necessary total area burned, and still maintain the 

 patch system as far as possible. This will be obtained by treat- 

 ing each type of heather on its own merits. 



1st. To burn old heather in strips 50 yards wide, and let Example of 

 the strip run as far as the fire will take it. 



2nd. To burn average foot and a half heather in strips and 



patches of one fourth to one half of an acre. 

 3rd. To burn patches and strips on the steep faces of the 

 wintering ground in small blocks of not more than 

 one-fourth to one-tenth of an acre each. 

 &ih. To burn the burn-sides, knolls and nesting grounds of 



Grouse, in even smaller plots. 



5th. To burn the wet flow ground in big patches of 1 to 10 

 acres. 



(N.B. This should be done so as to cover the flow 

 ground every six to nine years.) 

 6th. To burn the high ground with a northern exposure 



in large 3-acre blocks. 



7th. To burn good broad strips round each of the, boundaries. 

 82ft. To treat specially those portions of the moor which 



have a tendency to revert to grass. 



By adopting these methods with, say, three keepers (watchers 

 to count as keepers), each in charge of two parties of two or 

 three men each a total of from fifteen to twenty-one burners 

 it may be possible to get the work done. The burners will have 

 to fire twenty patches of 1 to 5 acres, say a total area of 50 acres, 



