The Carlisle independent., 1909-11-04

A dead heather in order to provide food for grouse
 there are nevertheless many moors. especially in the Highlands, where the system adopted to attain this end leaves much to be desired The ad- vantages of burning in autumn are not as fl general rule appreciated, and on several moors the burning is con- ducted in such haphazard fashion that valuable cover is destroyed in places where there is little or no shel- ter for the birds, while on other beats rank heather is much in evidence. The objects of heather burning gre twofold. In the first place, it is nee essary to remove the old and long heather through which young birds fail to find their way, being subse- quently separated from their mother and lost, while it is scarcely neces- sary to mention that the second and principal object is to provide young shoots. tender and succulent, for the food supply of the grouse, old and young During a long experience of the management of grouse moors, the writer has been much struck by the rapidity with which well-burnt moor recovers from disease, and how a shooting managed systematically on modern lines often escapes the dread ed malady, while it's neighbors on either side are suffering. The fact is that disease, which is in most eases caused by the ernal parasites, attacks only birds which have, through some cause, become weakly, and ire quently the predisposing cause is merely starvation. While the young shoots of heather on which the grouse are dependent during the spring and early summer are slow in appearing if the heather is old and rank, the tendency of young heather is to produce green vigorous shoots at an earlier period.
 A keeper or sportsman, on being placed in charge or taking possession of new moor. naturally examines the ground with some care to ascer- tain to what extent his predecessors have performed their duty in this re- spect. If he finds the moor well burnt, young, vigorous heather grow ing alongside the recently-burnt feed ing grounds, and the whole present. ing that patchwork appearance which so gladdens the heart of the grouse preserver, his task will be fairly sim pie. He has now only to burn the diff ctf or
 according to the quantity of cover in proportion to feeding grounds which he deems necessary. If, however, he finds that the moor has been neg lected, that long, rank heather pre- dominates, that young heather is scarce and that a dead, wiry appear ance characterizes the cover on the high grounds, more drastic method of treatment is required. Larger strips may be burnt, and these in their turn, some years later, may be divided into cover and feeding grounds. Sooner or later the bulk of the rank heather must disappear. and during his first few seasons all that is not required for cover must OS SOl IlQ OA uS Q6du heather on the high grounds may be burnt wholesale, for it is useless either as cover or food Much of the rank heather probably will not burn clean to the ground, and a second burning in the following year, the sooner the better, will be necessary. It is on such a moor as this that the system of burning in autumn proves it's value The rank heather may be got rid of in the autumn, and the second burn ing will be performed the following spring. The dead heather on the high grounds, where in all probability no spring burning is possible on ac- coEnt of the snow may be burnt clean during the sunny days which follow the early 1rosts of autumn. It often harpen that snowstorm sweeps across the high grounds in October or November, and after the bulk of it has melted, the drifts frequently serve as barriers to stay the progress of the fire. The practice of firing heather, leaving it to burn unchecked towards drift cannot. however. be commended. unless in very egception- al circumstances when no possible