34 



Moon-Farming. — The Whin, Gm'se, en- Furze. Vol. VI. 



For the Farmera' Cabinet. 

 KIoon-Farming. 



There is no man on earth who farms less 

 in ihe moon than myself; hut there are cir- 

 cumstances which compel an observing per- 

 son to hesitate, before he decides that that 

 luminary has no influence in sublunary things, 

 save only in the rising and falling of the tides 

 — the ebb and flow of the sea. Tliat persons 

 afflicted with madness are much more irrita- 

 ble and ferocious at the new and full moon 

 than at other times, has long been admitted 

 by those best able to ascertain the fact, and a 

 residence for some years in the neighbour- 

 hood of a house of confinement for such un- 

 fortunates, has affijrded me ample proof of 

 the truth of the assertion — hence the term 

 lunatics, when applied to persons so afilicted. 

 Nor is it easy to conceive that such a general 

 opinion could have been formed without some 

 foundation arising from general observation, 

 that the moon has influence on other times 

 and tides of the world — but on this I lay no 

 stress, farther than to introduce two instances 

 which have been mentioned, and which 

 seem worthy the examination and reflection 

 of practical men, who alone have it in 

 their power to put them to the test of experi- 

 ment. 



1st. In the Island of Guernsey, from whence 

 such numbers of cows are sent to other coun- 

 tries for the use of the dairy, and where a 

 heifer-calf is worth about ten times the price 

 of a male, the desire of the breeders is to ob- 

 tain as many of the latter as possible ; and to 

 effect this, it is, in their opinion, only neces- 

 sary to put the cow to the bull during the 

 waning of tiie moon ; this has been practised 

 for ages, and is implicitly relied upon by every 

 inhabitant in the island. And it is an uni- 

 versallj'-admitted fact, that by very far a 

 greater proportion of female than of male 

 calves are thus produced— probably as many 

 as six or eight for one ; nor is this peculiarity 

 confined to the Island of Guernsey ; for in the 

 whole of the channel islands, Guernsey, Jer- 

 sey, Alderney, and Sark, the same cause pro- 

 duces the same effect. 



2d. A practical farmer, a German, asserts, 

 after fifteen years' close observation, that the 

 crops of wheat which do not ripen within two 

 days of the full of the harvest-moon, will be 

 affected with rust ; and he points particularly 

 to the state of the crops of this grain tiie pre- 

 sent year, in proof of his assertion. And is 

 it not a fact — whetiier through the influence 

 of the moon or not — that the crops late in 

 ripening have proved peculiarly obnoxious to 

 this disease the present season? Now the 

 only end I have in view is, to set farmers 

 "a-thinking,"— it matters not what is said, it 

 is the trial which makes mention, Z. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Whin, Gorse, or Furze. 



Mr. Editor, — A writer of travels in Eng 

 land and Wales, has observed, that in the 

 latter country the land and management are 

 so wretchedly poor, that oftentimes, during 

 the winter, the farmers are actually under the 

 necessity of feeding their starving cattle with 

 the very gorse which grows upon their bar- 

 ren hills, the spikes of which are as long as 

 the finger, and sharp as daggers ; expressing 

 his wonder that it is not the cause of the 

 death of hundreds of their miserable crea- 

 tures ! 



Now, who could, from this account, con- 

 ceive, that the gorse in that country is by far 

 the most valuable of all their crops ; that it is 

 preserved with the greatest care, and reserved 

 until a time of hard labour, and made to bring 

 the highest price of any crop in the market ! 

 a field of gorse renting for much more than 

 their most productive wheat-lands. 



On reading the above account of the travel- 

 ling gentleman to a friend who resided in that 

 part of the country for several years, he was 

 quite amused with the error into which he 

 had fallen, remarking, that nothing could 

 possibly be more opposite to the truth. He 

 informed me, that the gorse or furze on many 

 of the large estates in that region, is culti- 

 vated and protected with great care, as a re- 

 serve for the horses belonging to the col- 

 lieries and the canal in the Tavvey valley 

 leading to Swansea, and other adjoining parts, 

 at that season of the year when the grass of 

 the meadows had been all expended, and the 

 labour of the animals was the greatest; it 

 was then given to them unaccompanied with 

 the usual allowance of corn, it being, alone, 

 quite equal to hay or grass and corn united. 

 The seed is sown on well-prepared land, whea 

 it springs up and takes possession of the 

 whole surface, not permitting a plant of any 

 other kind to show itself, and so thick that a 

 rabbit can scarcely find its way through it. 

 At the end of two years, the crop has attained 

 the height of about three feet, with stems as 

 large as the finger ; it is then cut quite close 

 to the ground, with short scythes, bound into 

 bundles, and taken to a small mill erected for 

 the purpose, where it is passed between rol- 

 lers, by which the spikes and stems are so 

 completely crushed, that the horses desire no- 

 thing better than a manger-full of these 

 " daggers" three times a day, the juice which 

 exudes being quite clammy, and of a honey- 

 sweetness, and fermenting the instant it 

 leaves the rollers. The gorse-grounds are 

 divided into two portions, one of which is cut 

 every year, the crop being then two years old 

 at the time of cutting. In some cases, this 

 food is found loo heating and invigorating 



