KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 389 



he depends for cover for the stock of birds which happen to be 

 on the ground, their prospective food value not being his concern. 

 This method of heather management, though suicidal, is by no 

 means uncommon, and instances could be given in Scotland and 

 England of magnificent moors on which no long heather is being 

 burned, and which at the end of the current leases will show a 

 decrease of 50 per cent, in value for many years to come. 



Another reason why the tenant should not directly employ 

 the keeper is that the former is, as a rule, but an autumn visitor. 

 Though his trust in himself be great, and his experience of shoot- 

 ing not small, his knowledge is but too often confined to the 

 months when the heather is in bloom, and the climatic condi- 

 tions are at their best. He may never have visited the ground 

 during the winter and early spring months, when the food is 

 short, and when the results of moor management are put to the 

 test. 



The tenant's knowledge of keepers and their duties is also 

 apt to be perfunctory. A little keenness at shooting time, 

 and a few excuses on the plea of a wet nesting season or bad 

 weather for heather-burning, are quite enough to satisfy the 

 average tenant that every effort has been made to get the best 

 possible results from the moor. In this way the inefficients 

 escape dismissal, and the specious are awarded undeserved 

 praise. 



When the keeper is the landlord's servant -a very different 

 state of things exists. In the first place, the supervision is 

 continuous and not intermittent. In a year with a short burn- 

 ing season, the foresters' staff, the shepherds and the labourers 

 employed on the estate can be turned on for a few days' burning ; 

 draining can be done under an expert sheep-drainer, and the 

 estate personnel and organisation utilised without incurring 

 additional expense. Again, in dealing with grazing tenants, 

 the landlord's keeper gets more effective support from the 

 agent, and has the minor difficulties arising from sheep gather- 

 ings, dippings, etc., more satisfactorily settled than if the arrange- 

 ment has to be made through a third party or by a. stranger. 



