First published 2004
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First issued in hardback 2019
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ISBN 13: 978-0-415-23136-7 (Set)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-23140-4 (Volume I V) (hbk)
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A DEFENCE OF DEER FORESTS.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003101840-2
AMONG the many changes in the economical conditions of Scotland which have occurred during the past half-century there are few so remarkable as the large conversion of mountain land from sheep grazings to deer forests. It is not intended in the present article to give any detailed history of this change, or to furnish statistics which, though interesting in themselves, would be foreign to the purpose in hand, viz. to endeavour to meet objections which have been raised on grounds varying according to the sources from which they originate and the classes to whom they are specially addressed. Suffice it here to say that among the operative causes which have brought about the change referred to the following may be safely included: an increasing love of sport and a higher appreciation of wild scenery; improved communication, affording access to regions hitherto almost unexplored; accumulation of wealth among the trading and commercial classes; and, last, not least, the genius of Sir Edwin Landseer, whose unrivalled pictures and sketches representing the habits and aspect of red deer in their wild state have familiarised us with each ever-changing phase of forest life.
To whatever extent these circumstances may have, together or severally, contributed to the extension of deer forests, the fact is that for every acre of mountain land so employed in 1840, there are at least ten in the present year, the result being that, of the total area in the Highlands which could be profitably afforested, by far the larger portion has been already cleared of sheep. If this be so, we have, on the threshold of our inquiry, disposed of one objection to the system of deer forestsnamely, its possible indefinite extension.
It will be asked what is meant bye profitably afforesting; and what guarantee can be given that the whole mountainous portions of Scotland, down even to the borders of England, may not, in the absence of any check, legislative or otherwise, be converted into deer forests. To reply to this query would be to anticipate arguments which it is proposed to adduce hereafter. In the meantime let us return to our sheep, and follow the history of their displacement by deer. From the year 1840 down to quite recent times, little notice was taken of the gradual extension of deer forests; an occasional grumble might have teen heard, but it died away under the pressure of some other popular cry or more widely felt grievance. A certain amount of hostile feeling, not unnatural at the time, was also shown by the sheep, farming interest, which then was in the zenith of its prosperity.
Public attention was languidly aroused by the reference to this subject in the Report of the Game Law Committee of 1873, but no serious attack on the system followed. Two circumstances, however, have recently brought deer forests more prominently into notice-first the agitation among the crofters, and secondly the enormous area which has been cleared of sheep and consolidated by one individual. It is true that a certain number of persons, of whom ex-Professor Blackie may be taken as a specimen, have for many yean been in the habit of never losing a chance of ridiculing deer forests and all who are concerned with them. But these people were listened to with precisely the same amusement and interest as was bestowed on that most delightful story of the Tommiebeg shootings. According to the ex-Professor, every English sportsman is an exaggerated cockney; every lessee of a deer forest, a Mr. Fribbles. Landlords and factors conspire against everyone else, the latter screwing as much rent as possible out of the sporting tenant, while the former recklessly spend the money so obtained in the frivolous amusements of foreign capitals, The variety of illustration, the raciness of his style, certainly contrasts strongly with the ponderous attempts of less humorous ail cultivated, assailants to bring ridicule upon the system to which they are opposed; but it is, at the best, a succs destime, and, had it not been for the two causes above mentioned, the ex-Professor might have continued this javelin warfare for the remainder of his life without seriously injuring those interested in deer forests or making it worth their while attempting a defence. But, in connection with the crofter agitation, deer forests have attracted the attention of a very different class of men from those who composed Professor Blackies audiences on the various festive occasions when he was trotted out; and it must be admitted that the owners of deer forests have no right to complain that a defence of some kind or other is now expect from them. If they are silent, either from timidity or idleness, or in the vain hope that the storm will somehow blow over, it will assured be said, These people cannot have a strong casethey do not defend themselves as other classes do when they are attacked. They are silentit is the silence of self-condemnation. Away with them their deer forests!