HEATHER-BURNING 367 



There can, unfortunately, be no doubt that bracken is Bracken, 

 spreading considerably on very many moors in the south and 

 west of Scotland, and that not much effort is being made to 

 combat this pest. Thick bracken will rapidly destroy both 

 grass and heather, but of the two it is probable that the heather 

 will be the more easily destroyed, and if bracken has once taken 

 possession of ground for a period of years it will be found, 

 on clearing the ground by regular cutting, that grass will probably 

 come where heather formerly flourished. It is a common ex- 

 perience, when burning fairly old heather, to find that the few 

 bracken stems which existed among the heather give rise to a 

 much thicker crop on the bare ground, and may entirely choke 

 the fresh growth of young heather. 



Despite much careful investigation by the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society and other interested bodies, no specific 

 has yet been discovered to cure the bracken trouble. 1 



It has been noticed that bracken very seldom grows on 

 crofter " soumings " where there are many ponies. While 

 there is not enough evidence on the subject to establish this 

 as a solution, the fact may be worth further inquiry and 

 experiment. 



In considering the general question of heather-burning, Blaeberry. 

 blaeberry ground has been dealt with as heather ground, and 

 its further treatment need not be gone into in any detail. It is 

 unfortunate that sheep are specially fond of the blaeberry 

 in its younger stages, and on moors carrying a heavy stock of 

 sheep this valuable plant is often grazed down to the root. 

 Grouse eat blaeberries (buds, leaves, and berries) with avidity ; 

 even the caterpillars that infest the plant in early summer are 

 a source of food supply for young birds. It may be noted from 

 an examination of the tables of crop-contents that the con- 

 sumption of blaeberry by the Grouse is irregular, and the 

 percentage seems to depend more on the general supply of food 



1 Colonel G. J. Fergusson-Buchanan of Auchentorlie has recently printed a pamphlet 

 setting forth the success which has attended his efforts to get rid of bracken on heather 

 and grass land. 



