66 
British Deer and their Homs 
grounds of Scotland are far too poor to be cultivated to advantage in these (so-called) Free 
Trade days, and as to the other tenth, it is more than doubtful whether the poorer inhabitants 
would not lose more than they would gain by the change. For, think of the money that is 
spent in keeping up these forests, of the labour employed in maintaining and repairing 
buildings, roads, fences, etc., and of the golden stream that flows into the pockets of the 
people day by day so long as My Lord or Mr. Moneybags is in residence. Much is 
expected of the man who rents a forest in Scotland, and rarely, if ever, is the expectation 
disappointed. He may count himself lucky who during the stalking season escapes with 
an expenditure of less than jT $o a day. Ladies too come over, if the tenant is worthy of 
STAGS FEEDING AS THEY MOVE 
their companionship, and their gracious presence does no small good in uniting both rich 
and poor, the Sassenach and the Highlander, in the bonds of sincere affection. Set these 
things against the contingencies of farming in these Northern wilds, where for long periods 
in the year “ the rain it raineth every day,” and where at best the ruling prices of stock and 
crop leave but a scanty profit, and see if the balance does not turn in the direction I have 
suggested. Whatever it may be elsewhere, in Scotland most certainly the little farmer’s lot, 
like the policeman’s, “is not a happy one.” 
With the afforesting of so many sheep grounds and the introduction of wire fences 
during the past fifteen years there has been an enormous increase in the number of deer in 
Scotland. Quality has given place to quantity ; and though there are nearly as good stags 
killed now as in the previous fifty years, with a few exceptions the best heads do not come 
from these highly-stocked forests. 
