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CHAPTER XXVIII. 



HEATHER-BURNING. 



During the past fifty years Scotch shooting 

 rents have enormously increased in value; in 

 some cases they are twenty times higher than 

 they were half a century ago. This is owing 

 to the fact that Grouse and Deer have increased 

 in numbers just as remarkably. The change 

 is to be accounted for by two things: The 

 afforesting of the straths and glens, and the 

 periodical burning of the heather. 



Ground which twenty years ago fed five 

 Grouse now supports fifty ; and much the same 

 may be said of Deer. Before the era of heather- 

 burning and draining, the very names of some 

 of the largest estates in the Highlands were 

 unknown ; and the game made no return what- 

 ever to the laird beyond the produce of his 

 private shooting. 



