§ Sir F. Macleanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress his Department is making with the problem of bracken control.
§ Mr. RossThe area treated with the aid of the 50 per cent. grants available for bracken control work has averaged about 14,000 acres per year in Scotland during the five years to 1965 although there has been a decline in the number of applications for assistance over this period.
With the increasing difficulty in obtaining labour, and with rising costs, no significant reduction in the remaining areas of infestation can be expected with the present methods of control, i.e., cutting, bruising or crushing.
117WI hope that eventually a satisfactory chemical spray, or sprays, may be developed which would enable a new attack to be made on the problem. My Department is keeping in close touch with research in this field.