Grass and Grassland. Ian Moore

which proved so true in the wartime ploughing-up campaign of 1939–45. Heather land yielded poor crops, even with generous fertiliser treatment, for the soil was too hungry and lacked body, whereas surprisingly good crops followed the ploughing in of bracken. Gorse land gave results somewhere between the heather and the bracken.

      Heather moor is primarily sheep country and normally carries about one ewe to four or five acres. Hardy cattle, such as the Galloway, may sometimes be seen in association with sheep on the best moors. The periodic burning of the heather prevents the development of scrub and encourages new growth and, in late winter especially, young heather shoots are valuable in providing adequate sustenance for the sheep. When the burning is too slow, i.e. the fire does not sweep rapidly over the heather and the roots are damaged in consequence, bilberry frequently replaces the heather which represents the next phase in the succession.

      The most valuable of the moorland or hill pastures contain sheep’s fescue, red fescue and bent as the dominant species and although these grasses are at the bottom of the nutritional scale as we shall see, they have the advantage of demanding the minimum of attention from the farmer in order to keep a stable sward. Bracken is generally the most serious intruder but this can be kept in check with regular attention. On the moors of Cornwall and Devon rough uncultivated pastures contain Agrostis setacea