CHAPTER VI 



FARLEY, 1919 



THE season of 1919 will long be remembered as 

 one of the worst on record may it not be also 

 remembered as the last on record ! You never 

 can tell in these days of upheaval; but surely the 

 Deer Forest Commission which has been appointed 

 to sit again will not come to the conclusion that 

 the great majority of deer forests can ever be 

 anything but deer forests, whatever one or two of 

 the most accessible and low-lying might be 

 turned into. That 1919 was such a poor season 

 was the more curious because it only applies to 

 the heads. The beasts were in many forests as 

 good as ever and many heavy stags were got, but 

 the heads were universally acknowledged to be 

 the poorest on record, and with the bodies so good 

 it is very difficult to account for, especially as 

 very few of the good stags were killed off during 

 the war. I think the extreme drought in May, 

 June, and July had most to do with it. In the 

 Beauly neighbourhood it was the driest within 

 living memory; Strathglass was like Sahara, and 



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