CHAP. XLI. LKGUMlNA^CEiE. iJ^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 

 fiovvers or produces seeds, it requires to be propagated by cuttings. 



T/ie 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 to a 

 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 5 ft. or 6 ft. wide at 

 bottom, 2 ft. wide at top, and 3 ft. or 4 ft. 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 onl}^ 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 10 ft. or 12 ft. high, if regularly 

 primed 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 

 rext 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 1ft. 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. viii. 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 



