84 THE GROUSE 



not till towards the close of the eighteenth 

 century that such lands were put to any 

 systematic or profitable use. Then, how- 

 ever, it was discovered that sheep farming 

 might generally be conducted in the High- 

 lands, as it had been for some time in the 

 borderlands of England and Scotland. 

 This being established, attention to heather 

 as an important factor in the support of 

 mountain sheep became a necessity, though 

 then and for many years later this was 

 conducted in a rude and haphazard way, 

 involving many mistakes and needless 

 waste. When, some sixty or eighty 

 years later, grouse shooting became the 

 vogue, further stimulus was given to the 

 care and burning of heather, and the 

 methods and conditions of doing so were 

 greatly amended, so that a more regular 

 rotation and fuller supply of sound 

 heather should be secured. 



This, however, was not arrived at 

 without friction between those who 

 practised the older and those who insisted 

 upon adoption of the newer and better 



