106 THE GROUSE 



As a precaution against fires escaping 

 control it is advisable to burn against the 

 wind. There is not only safety in this, 

 but the fire does not travel too fast, and a 

 more clean and thorough consumption of 

 the old vegetation is obtained. Mention 

 may be made of improved aids to burning 

 in the present day, especially of the 

 heather-burning lamp now in general use, 

 which has superseded the " box of lucifers," 

 tow, and other simple devices of the older 

 days. 



These observations should not be closed 

 without some allusion to what has been 

 described as the "curse of the bracken." 

 The common bracken has for a number of 

 years so asserted itself all over Scotland as 

 to have become already a source of serious 

 loss to many agriculturists and sportsmen, 

 and a menace in the future to all who are 

 in any way personally interested in land. 

 Year after year its dominion is everywhere 

 extending, and especially in the Highlands 

 it is creeping over and throttling thousands 

 of acres of valuable heather. The ubiquity 



