MOOR MANAGEMENT 385 



Broomhead Moor, Yorkshire. 



This is a very remarkable moor. It has been well cared for for over forty 

 years ; it is now probably one of the best, if not the best burned moor in England 

 or Scotland, with the result that it has not only the thickest but also the 

 quickest growing heather that the Committee have seen anywhere. 



There are not twenty square yards of stick heather on any portion of the 

 ground ; there is a larger proportion of six- to twelve-year-old heather than on 

 any moor the Committee have investigated, a bigger stock of birds is carried to 

 the acre, and disease has not occurred for over thirty years. 



In examining the Game Records the following points are of importance : 



(1) The steady growth of bags from two hundred brace before 1870 with 



disease recurrent every few years, up to two thousand seven hundred 

 brace per annum with no danger from disease. 



(2) In the last decade there appears to be a slight set-back, but this is more 



apparent than real, and unsuitable weather in the shooting season is 

 largely responsible. 



(3) There is now a larger stock on the ground than ever, and the owner with 



forty and the keeper with fifty-one years' experience of the moor are 

 agreed that the maximum yield has not yet been reached. 

 The points about this moor that are specially noteworthy to moor-managers 

 are that : 



(1) Though there is no long heather the birds are kept on the moor all the 



winter. 



(2) Although the moor is relatively a small one, and is burnt in large 



patches, yet the total acreage burnt is only, with difficulty, main- 

 tained at one-twelfth of the moor per annum. 



(3) The management of the stock and methods of driving (vide Mr Wilson's 



note) 1 have undoubtedly much to do with the health of the birds 

 on the moor. 



(4) The moor is all over the 1,000 feet line. 



(5) The climate is dry, the average annual rainfall being about 30 inches. 



(6) Beautiful white quartz grit is found all over the moor. 



(7) There are about a dozen good springs, and a deep burn runs through the 



centre of the moor. 



1 Vide chap. xxi. p. 480. 

 VOL. I. 2 B 



