RELATION TO HEATHER 89 



how little about the matter we can gather 

 from these early authorities. Where any 

 notice is taken of heather at all it is in 

 the briefest and most casual fashion. 

 Even the earlier writers on sport of the 

 present generation do not occupy them- 

 selves at any length with a consideration 

 of the growth and care of heather as 

 an essential condition of good grouse 

 shooting. 



In the classical works of St. John and 

 Colquhoun the subject receives practically 

 no mention, while even in the pages of 

 Mr. Tom Speedy's well-known and 

 valuable work, Sport in the Highlands 

 and Lowlands of Scotland with Rod and 

 Gun, less consideration is given to this 

 important matter than might have been 

 expected. Mr. Speedy insists on the 

 different methods and extent of heather 

 burning to be followed in the interest of 

 the farmer and the interest of the sports- 

 man where sheep or grouse coexist on 

 the same land, but in reference to this 

 there has in recent years been a greatly 



