that wet woodland and swamp, given their greater variety and cover of ground vegetation”, would have been able to provide greater sustenance for cattle than upland hardwood and other forest-

types, though there are only three oblique references to cattle grazing in such wet woodland33‘.

Several sources imply that sheep ranged as freely in the woods as the cattlem, though Selkirk (1803) said that because sheep were more vulnerable to predation they "were more generally kept in inclosed pastures”, while Lawson (1851) said that the sheep that ’wandered’ in the woods did not have large fleeces.

Pigs, however, especially took to the woodsm.

Stewart (1806) tells us that in summer they fed on grass and fern roots, while in the autumn, they fed on beech mast, especially during mast years, when after ”a good run in the woods” they would come much better through the winter. However, some of the respondents to the Questionnaire (1876) noted that not all of the pigs ’came home’ willingly, some seeming in effect to have become feral and having to be hunted with guns and dogs.334 Another disadvantage was that the pork

that some have actually been killed, where they were not kept at a safe distance". Since Johnstone describes this behaviour as occurring in winter, the cattle were presumably browzing on the leafless twigs of the deciduous trees, as well as on the needles of whatever conifers were felled. I expect that where tree-felling took place in the summer, cattle, especially in areas of upland hardwood forest, would also congregate, and of course at that time there would also have been leaves available. However, it was probably less common in summer because, as we have seen, tree- felling was mostly a winter activity, and because there would have

been ground vegetation, presumably more nutritious, available at that time.

33° As in the island's ‘wet rich woodland' as described by Sobey 8. Glen (2002).

33‘ Lewellin (1832) refers to cattle feeding in the "woods and swamps", and Johnstone (1822) mentions the danger of cattle getting ‘mired' after being "driven into the woods“ in a weakened state after the poor feeding regime of the winter, while Anon. (1836) refers to “our cattle dying or drowned in the swamps".

3” MacGregor 1323, Lewellin 1832 and Lawson (1851) all refer to sheep ranging free in the woods.

333 The presence of pigs in the woods is mentioned by M’Robert (1776), Stewart (1806), Lewellin (1832), Land Commission (1860) (evidence of J. Robertson of Lot 34), numerous respondents to the Questionnaire (1876), and Bain (1890).

33‘ The responses to the question — “Was it difficult to catch [the pigs] at the beginning of winter?" — varied, a few respondents saying that it was not, but most that it was difficult. I expect the willingness of the pigs to ‘come home' might have had to do with the severity of the winter, in combination with whether the previous summer had been a beech ‘mast year' or not.

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of such mast-fed animals was ”not reckoned good, being soft and oily”.335 Stewart also noted that in some districts where blueberries were plentiful, they would ”furnish the swine with their chief food

for several weeks".

A particular consequence of the free-range ’pasturing’ of livestock in the woods was that they were more susceptible to attack from the island’s natural woodland predators, especially the bear and the lynx, and this in turn raised the level of antipathy towards these animals leading to the institution of bounties in an attempt to extirpate them.336

ln terms of the effects of such pasturing on the forests around the settlements, in some areas there must have been some localised damage to the forest ground vegetation due to over—grazing and heavy trampling, as well as local manuring effects, though evidently nothing on a scale sufficient to merit a comment from any of the recorders. The native fauna must also have begun to experience competition, especially for the important beech mast food resource, though again there is no comment on this in the literature. Another effect that must also have occurred was the beginning of the introduction of European plant species into the island’s forests, due to their seeds being carried into the forest in the dung of the animals.337

There was also a potential effect that drew comment because it failed to occur: this was the suppression of the woody vegetation by the livestock. Selkirk (1803) considered that, given the potential of both sheep and cattle to suppress the natural regeneration of forest trees and shrubs, that wood-pasturing might be used on the island to enhance the rate and ease of forest clearance.338

335

Stewart (1806). Also mentioning the feeding of pigs on beech mast are J. Robertson of Lot 34, in evidence to the Land Commission (1860), Bain (1890), and numerous respondents to a specific question on the subject in the Questionnaire (1876): four of the respondents, as Stewart had, said that the pork was inferior in quality, ‘soft' being the word used for the meat by all four.

336 See Appendix 2 under ‘Bear‘ and ‘Lynx' for the problem of predation, and the later discussion there, for the bounties.

”7 MacQuarrie & Lacroix (2003) in a study of the exotic ground flora plants currently occurring in the island's upland hardwood forests have found that exotic plants occurred even in plots 300 metres into the forest.

338 Selkirk must have been well aware of this effect in the British Isles, where the suppression of forest trees and shrubs by the grazing and browsing of sheep and cattle is a long observed