PRODUCE IN BULK AND IX MONEY. 199 



fermentation is immediately set up, and deterioration 

 ensues. It is a good practice to mix it at once with cut 

 straw or hay chaff; the juices are absorbed, and it will 

 keep good for at least thirty-four hours. 



In one of the earlier volumes of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, 1 there are two papers on the cultivation of gorse, 

 which give the evidence of a large number of practical 

 farmers both as to the most successful method of cultivat- 

 ing, and also of using it for feeding purposes. All appear 

 to speak very favourably of it, especially when given to 

 milking cows and to working cattle. Several instances are 

 given of the money produce per acre of the crop, which 

 generally, if allowed to stand for two years' growth between 

 the cuttings, will average 20 tons per acre 2000 bundles 

 of 20 Ibs. each, or 36 two-horse cart-loads, being an ordi- 

 nary return. The author of one of the papers alluded to 

 speaks of 1 6 per acre being obtained for gorse grown on 

 land not worth at the highest estimate more than 7s. to 8s. 

 per acre ; while he also tells us, and names the growers of 

 crops fetching, to his own knowledge, 20, 30, and even 

 the enormous price of 40 per acre. 



From the Continent also we have confirmatory evidence 

 of its hardy growth and suitability for poor light soils, and 

 also of its value as an article of food. The details given 

 by M. Saint-Martin 2 of his experimental trials of gorse, 

 the produce of the imperial domains of the Landes, on a 

 soil hitherto looked upon as perfectly barren, show that 

 its feeding value may be considered as nearly equal to 

 ordinary hay; that the working horses preserved their 

 condition on half the usual rations of oats when gorse was 

 given to them ; and that the produce of the dairy cows fed 

 on gorse was equal, both in quantity and quality, to that 

 when they were fed on hay; while the cost of the substance 



1 Roy. Agri. Soc. Jour., vol. vi. p. 390 and 522. 



2 Journal d'Ayri. Pratique, 1859, tome ii. p. 420. 



