THE PRODUCE OF FORESTS. 7 



is to procure as many stags as possible, so as to raise the 

 shooting rent to a maximum. But the animals shot on these 

 deer ranges are nothing like the fine beasts found in woodland 

 areas. I remember visiting a few years ago the shooting box 

 at Kranichstein, near Darmstadt, belonging to the Grand 

 Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, a nephew of our most gracious 

 King. Kranichstein has served as a grand-ducal shooting 

 box for many generations, and it contains a most interesting 

 collection of stags' heads. There are rooms filled with heads 

 of deer shot in the forests surrounding the box, and there is 

 one room filled with heads of deer shot mostly by the Grand 

 Duke's father during his frequent visits to Scotland. It is 

 a most interesting sight to see the difference between the 

 magnificent heads of deer which lived and developed in real 

 forests, and the inferior antlers of the deer shot in Scotland. 

 To my mind, the pleasure of stalking a king of the forest and 

 carrying home a fine trophy is far superior to bringing 

 home three or four heads, such as are now obtained in 

 Scotland. If a larger proportion of the Scotch forests were 

 once more brought under wood, we should, no doubt, improve 

 the breed, and at the same time increase the revenue from the 

 lands in question by the sale of timber. 



The grouse, on the other hand, requires open lands, but 

 there is room enough in Scotland, with its 9 million acres of 

 waste land, for the rearing of grouse, even if a fair proportion 

 of the land were afforested, 



As to pheasants, it is easy to show that they can be reared, 

 in great numbers, without interfering with the economic 

 management of the coverts. This subject will be dealt with 

 in Chapter III. 



Babbits, however, are a plague, which more and more 

 endangers a rational utilisation of the soil. If a minute 

 investigation were made into the damage done by rabbits, 

 not only in forests but also on agricultural lands, people 

 would be astonished at the amount. In my opinion, if the 

 killing of large numbers of rabbits is desired by '*' chasseurs," 



