RELATION TO HEATHER 99 



It is more important perhaps to 



determine the methods and conditions 



under which heath should be burnt than 



under whose control and to what extent 



this should be done. Here, at least, an 



approach to uniformity of practice is 



possible, for the same methods and 



appliances are, within limits, open to use 



on all moors. But although the only aim 



is or should be provision and preservation 



in regular rotation or succession of an 



abundant stock of healthy and vigorous 



nourishing heather, this in the past was, 



and sometimes even yet is, made matter 



of contention also. A common mistake 



of sporting tenants and their servants 



used to be that they burnt too little 



heather, while the opposite fault was 



more frequently attributed to farmers 



and their servants, both parties doing 



their work with little discrimination or 



intelligence. Setting forth on a day 



when they considered the moor dry 



enough to burn, they set fire to the first 



rank-looking patch of heather they met ; 



