98 Burnside. 



" The tiny heath-flowers now begin to blow ; 

 The russet moor assumes a richer glow ; 

 The powdery bells that glance in purple bloom, 

 Fling from their scented cups a sweet perfume ; 

 While from their cells, still moist with morning dew, 

 The wandering wild bee sips the honied glue ; 

 In wider circle wakes the liquid hum, 

 And far remote the mingled murmurs come." 



The quantity of honey gathered by bees from the moors in 

 the late summer and early autumn is scarcely credible. I 

 have seen it asserted that bees will then collect in four or 

 five weeks as much as they ordinarily collect during the 

 remainder of the year. 



But the heather is not always allowed to become the 

 tangled mass we see it here ; it takes many years to reach a 

 growth like this. As we descend we come across a bright 

 green patch of young heather. Where deer and grouse are 

 kept this young heather is very valuable. No doubt a fire 

 has accidentally occurred here, which has burnt off the old 

 ling, and this young heather has taken its place, although 

 generally, when a fire occurs among old heather, it almost 

 exterminates the plant. Strange to say, if burnt regularly 

 when young, it produces a delicate green carpet, which is 

 much prized. The reason for the extermination of the old 

 heather is not far to seek ; the woody underground rhizomes 

 after a time fail to send up the strong leafy shoots which 

 they produce abundantly when young, and hence, when the 

 leaf-producing branches at the top of the plant are burned, 

 it dies off completely. 



Where young heather is required the burning takes place 

 regularly in the early spring, and this practice is very 

 common in many parts of Scotland. It is an exciting business 



