CHAP, XLI. LEGUMINA‘CE®. U‘LEX. 573 
form of the plant. This plant requires neither bruising nor grinding, but may 
be given to horses in the same manner as clover or tares; but, as it never 
flowers or produces seeds, it requires to be propagated by cuttings. 
The use of furze for hedges is chiefly desirable in situations where the 
hawthorn or the holly will not thrive; because the furze is not a plant of 
long duration ; and, after being some time in culture as a hedge, it is apt to get 
naked below, even if clipped or pruned on the sides; and to extend toa 
great width, if left untouched by the knife or shears. The most rapid mode 
of forming a hedge of it is, to raise a bank of earth, say 5ft. or 6 ft. wide at 
bottom, 2 ft. wide at top, and 3 ft. or 4ft. high. The seeds may then be sown 
on a drill along the middle of the top, and the plants either left to grow and 
hang down on each side irregularly, or be clipped into regular shape as a 
hedge, according to the taste of the owner, or other circumstances. The 
most economical mode is, to clip the hedge on each side, so that the section 
of it may complete the upper part of the triangle, of which the earthen bank 
forms the lower part. The proper time for clipping such a hedge is either 
in autumn, after the growth of the shoots is completed, or in spring, before it 
is commenced; and only so much should be cut at a time, as can be bruised 
and consumed by the cattle to be fed with it. In rich soils, there can be no 
doubt that the furze would form hedges 10ft. or 12 ft. high, if regularly 
pruned on each side; and, perhaps, for a market-gardener, who keeps a cow 
and a horse, this would be the most profitable of all kinds of subdivision 
hedges. Where an evergreen hedge is wanted for shelter in a garden, and 
where the clippings or prunings are not wanted as fodder, then the fastigiate 
variety is much to be preferred, as it grows very compact, and requires little 
or no pruning. In ornamental gardens, the double-flowered variety, unpruned, 
forms a splendid hedge when in flower ; but it is only suitable where there is 
abundance of room. In 1835, there was a splendid hedge of this variety in 
the Knaphill Nursery. 
A picturesque hedge of furze, to serve as a boundary to plantations, has been 
adopted with success in Gloucestershire, by Charles Lawrence, Esq., who 
gives the following directions for raising it : — ‘‘ Sow furze seed early in the 
spring, on stony or gravelly banks, on which there is a little good mould, 
as the plants are thereby provided with much more fibrous root than when 
the seed is sown on stiff clay soils; keep the plants clean, and transplant 
them in November, or early in February, to the front of the plantation. 
Fence them with a post and two-rail fence, which will keep off cattle (the occa- 
sional bite of sheep or lambs will rather do good than harm), and keep them 
hoed. In the following spring, clip off with shears the principal part of the 
first year’s shoots. The plants will make very luxuriant shoots during the 
next two years, after which the posts and rails are to be removed ; the branches 
of the furze must then be collected in the hand, and drawn forward towards 
the field, while the posts and rails are again put up on the plantation side of 
the furze, about 1 ft. or 18 in. within the stems of the plants; and, as 
each rail is fixed, the branches of furze are disengaged, and fall back against 
the fence; so that, at a moderate distance, it is not seen. When the furze 
thus becomes laid open, the tender parts of all the young shoots are browsed 
by cattle and sheep, which makes it grow so thick and close, that, by the 
time the posts and rails decay, it is a perfect fence to the plantation. Dif- 
ferent forms may be introduced, occasionally, to vary the effect, which is 
extremely beautiful, especially when the furze is in bloom. (Gard. Mag., 
vol. vill. p. 678.) 
As a shelter to young trees, the furze is sometimes sown where acorns, 
beech masts, or chestnuts, are to be sown, or young trees are to be planted, 
in order to shelter them for a few years, till they grow up, and have sufficient 
strength to shelter one another; when they will overtop the furze and de- 
stroy it. This practice has been adopted to some extent in the government 
plantations in the New Forest, and in the Forest of Dean. For this pur- 
pose, to afford a shelter for game, and also to serve as undergrowth in the 
